A small Huawei Mate 20 notch could beat the OnePlus 6T notch to the punch thanks to a reported earlier release date. The OnePlus 6T notch has been rumored to be the new waterdrop design for months, but leaks suggest the Huawei Mate 20 is set to release weeks earlier than the competition.
According to T3, the upcoming Huawei Mate 20 notch could one-up OnePlus as the first of the budget brands to release a phone with a tiny waterdrop notch. Although still completely unconfirmed by the company itself, the Huawei Mate 20 is rumored to launch on October 16, while the OnePlus 6T, which is being officially revealed today, isn’t expected to land on shelves until the end of the month. Twitter user Rquandt leaked images of the phone and its Pro counterpart earlier today.
We first reported of the OnePlus 6T waterdrop notch back in early September when leaks of the product box began to surface online, with images of the supposed device showing around the same time. The leaks showed the rumored OnePlus 6T waterdrop notch in all its glory while other devices were being announced with traditionally larger notches similar to the one popularized by the iPhone X last year.
Ever since Apple announced the iPhone X and gave consumers their first real taste of a screen notch, the race has been on to diminish the size of the screen notch on competing devices. We’re getting closer to the ideal bezeless smartphone display, but companies are then forced to either emit features usually held in the top of the devices, or to find clever ways to hide them in other places.
The front camera, an important choice not just for selfie-obsessed users but sometimes used to unlock a device with its owner’s face, is the last major obstacle in that mission. While other groups have found crafty ways to keep it around, like by having it appear from inside the phone when needed, other companies aren’t quite so keen to use that approach.
