Samsung unveiled the Infinity Flex screen of the foldable Galaxy F during its SDC18 keynote on Wednesday, but that’s not the only new hardware the company showed us during the event. We now know that Samsung is about to embrace the infamous iPhone X notch, something it avoided for more than a year now. But that doesn’t mean the upcoming Galaxy S10 flagship will have a notch, and a detail from Samsung’s presentation offers us a good reason to be excited about notch designs of the future.
Samsung revealed a bunch of displays that will soon be part of the Infinity family other than the Infinity Flex for foldables. These are Infinity U, Infinity V, Infinity O, and New Infinity. These marketing terms do not mean anything without some visual guidelines. So here’s the image Samsung shared on stage, via Android Police:
As you can see, two of the four Infinity displays above feature camera notches shaped like the letters U and V. A third display features a hole in the shape of the letter O, the type of display Samsung teased recently, and a screen design we expected to see in the Galaxy S10. A render shows what a display with a hole at the top would look like:
But then there’s the New Infinity display on the right that has absolutely no bezel at the top. It’s unclear when this New Infinity display will be launched, but it sure looks like the kind of expensive display you’d expect on flagship devices. The kind of display that would need no holes or cutouts to accommodate cameras and sensors. This is the kind of display that would incorporate various elements, including the front speaker and the camera, under the glass. Samsung already made a display that conducts sound through the screen via bone, so naturally, Samsung is now exploring placing the speaker under the screen. Hiding the camera under the display, however, might be trickier.
Samsung did not show the full screens in the image above, but I’m guessing these Infinity displays would not have bottom bezels. That is, I hope that Samsung will simultaneously remove both the top and bottom bezels, just like Apple did, rather than going the copycat route. Most iPhone X clones have bottom bezels.
With all that in mind, the question is, has Samsung perfected the technology to mass-produce New Infinity displays for the Galaxy S10? Or will the Galaxy S10 feature a tiny bezel at the top? Perhaps an Infinity O hole, as shown in the renders above?
Cheaper Galaxy phones of 2019 may pack Infinity U and V screens, while more expensive mid-range and high-end handsets could receive Infinity O and New Infinity screens, but that’s just my speculation. On top of that, the technology used to make new Infinity designs will also allow Samsung to offer similar display designs in the future to top smartphone makers including Apple and Google. After all, the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and Pixel 3 XL all feature OLED screens made by Samsung Display.
