Chinese smartphone brands have for years been more-than-inspired by Apple’s iPhones, in both software and hardware departments. And since most of these players weren't selling in the US, they were immune from things such as patent infringement cases. So while Chinese brands aped Apple designs and sold millions in China, India and other markets, Korean brand Samsung which sells in many markets was pulled up by Apple time and again. More recently, Samsung was asked to pay Apple $539 million for copying patented smartphone features.
While the Chinese handset makers have moved on from the 'inspired design' days, thanks to unique looking smartphones coming out of China, Apple features are still pretty much defining a lot of design decisions when it comes to software. And ever since the launch of the iPhone X, we have seen Android smartphone makers (in China and other geographies) embrace the display notch.
Everyone knows that Apple did not invent the display notch. It was first included in the Essential Phone, a project led by Andy Rubin, one of the founding fathers of Android. Still, Apple popularised it (because of Face ID) and soon enough there was a sea of Android smartphones featuring a similar, flatter notch (unlike Essential’s bindi-styled one). And all of this was incorporated before Google could even officially begin to support the notch in Android.
Apple took the lead here because it has better (read stricter) control over both hardware and software. This lets Apple create the trends, but as I will explain to you later, it also has stick with them till the very end.
About five months after the launch of the iPhone, smartphone manufacturers began to follow suit. Asus, a Taiwanese brand announced the ZenFone 5z with a display notch, which was later followed by Huawei with its P20 Pro, OnePlus with the OnePlus 6, Oppo with its Oppo F7 and finally Vivo with its Vivo V9 and it seemed like the notch was here to stay whether consumers loved or hated them.
The awakening
But then something changed. Chinese manufacturers had yet to see official support (from Google) for the display notch and Vivo saw rising interest from those visiting the Mobile World Congress for its Apex smartphone.
Despite being a concept device, the Apex gathered enough interest to convince Vivo to build a production device and a few months later, what many though impossible, was delivered, not by Apple, or Samsung, but a Chinese smartphone brand called Vivo in the form of the Vivo Nex.
It was the world’s first smartphone that introduced a couple of new and unseen features, some of which brands like Apple would think of as their worst nightmare.
Vivo Nex
The Vivo Nex introduced an almost bezel-less design and to do that they had to get rid of the one thing everyone was just beginning to get used to, the display notch. Vivo even found a workaround for the selfie camera and placed it behind at the top of smartphone’s frame in the form of a very camera-like flash that pops up when needed using micro-stepping motors. They even used a piezoelectric module that vibrates the display’s screen to transfer audio without the need for a receiver at the top. And the revolution of sorts didn’t end at this.
Next up was another BBK Electronics sibling, Oppo. Just a few days ago, Oppo invited the media to a launch event held inside the Louvre in Paris. While many expected the Chinese selfie smartphone maker, to launch a typical high-end assembled smartphone with a Snapdragon 845, 8 GB etc., Oppo launched something completely jaw-dropping altogether.
Oppo Find X
The Oppo Find X (successor to the Find 7) was announced with an almost bezel-less display but took another route to avoid the popular notch. On the front, all a user can see is nothing but the display, which runs from edge to edge. On the back, there’s just a glass panel and nothing else.
Oppo came up with a motorised mechanism that extends the top quarter of the smartphone's frame to reveal a front facing camera. The same extension also reveals the dual camera setup at the back. But it did not stop there. It also included an array of 3D imaging sensors at the front. The smartphone relies solely on face unlocking for authentication and even went on to claim that its success rates were better than a fingerprint reader. Basically, Oppo came up with a motor that lifts the camera assembly up in 0.5 seconds to authenticate a user every time the user lifted the phone to unlock it. And boy! Did it drop jaws?
It also featured a curved edge Super AMOLED display that bends around the edges, but unlike Samsung’s implementation, it runs from edge to edge not just from side to side but from the top (with a tiny chin) to the bottom as well.