Samsung patents smartphone design with notch

The Chinese patent office SIPO has published a patent application from Samsung, featuring a smartphone design with a notch at the top. The design drawing does not show a fingerprint scanner, so it may be under the screen.

The document from SIPO with the design of the Samsung smartphone with notch has been discovered by Mobile Buying. Samsung filed it with the patent office on March 30, 2018. The drawings show several smartphones without screen edges, with a notch at the top with cameras and loudspeaker.

It concerns different designs with cameras placed vertically one above the other in the middle at the back, such as with the Galaxy S9. Other models, on the other hand, have the cameras at the top left, positioned either vertically or horizontally. A fingerprint scanner is not visible on any of the models, which may indicate that Samsung has integrated it under the screen in the relevant designs.

The publication does not necessarily mean that Samsung actually has plans to release a smartphone with a notch. For example, Mobile Purchase points out that SIPO also publishes a Samsung design of a smartphone without a notch, with a front that consists almost entirely of screen. It is unclear where Samsung will place the speaker and front camera with this model.

Following Apple’s lead with the iPhone X, more manufacturers have announced smartphones with a notch at the top of the screen. Samsung does not yet have such a model in its range and emphasized when the Galaxy S9 was announced that it did not have such a notch.