38 MACWORLD AUGUST 2019
iOSCENTRAL IPHONE X NOTCHlike attempts to replace it. Many of these
attempts involve adding potentially
breakable elements to the handsets, while
Apple usually takes great pains to design
its devices without pieces that could snap
off if you bump into a wall or a table.
There’s the OnePlus 7 Pro (go.
macworld.com/1p7p), for instance, which
has a front-facing camera that pops out the
back of the phone like a Pop-Tart from a
toaster. Nifty, perhaps, but there’s a high
chance of getting sand or water stuck in
that slot. And then there’s the Asus
ZenFone 6 (go.macworld.com/azf6), which
forsakes the minimalism implicit in its name
in favor of a gadgety camera that flips up
from the back of the phone when you
want to take a selfie. It’s cool in a
Transformers sort of way, I suppose, but it’s
potentially even more fragile than the
OnePlus 7 Pro and there’s a good chance
that motor will break down in a few
months. Some sites call this “genius” (go.
macworld.com/gnus)—I say it’s going to
ridiculous lengths to avoid saying your
phone has a notch. (The same goes for the
Xiaomi Mi Mix, which avoided the notch...
by making you flip your phone upside-
down to take a selfie.)
A notch, though, never moves. The
sensors and lenses stay secure. The notch
design even ensures you’ll still be able to
use a case for additional protection. If you
don’t want one, it’s better to go the route
that Google is apparently heading in with
the Pixel 4 (according to a leak from Unbox
Therapy [go.macworld.com/unbx]) and
simply embrace the bezels once again.
Even Apple technically did that with the
new iPad Pros.A VALUABLE LESSON
TO OTHERS
The backlash and following acceptance of
the notch feels like a familiar part of the
Apple design cycle: Apple embraces a
non-standard design that helps solve a
problem, some loud critics go “ew,” and
then by the next year you see variations of
the same design on many other high-
profile devices. After all the jeering, you
start to see the editorials claiming that
features like the notch were “inevitable”—
that what Apple did was just business as
usual. No big deal.
The cynical side of me sees an attempt
to upend this cycle in Google’s recent
decision to embrace the leaks (go.
macworld.com/lksf) of its upcoming Pixel 4.
That device has a square bump for the
rear cameras much as Apple’s next iPhone
(go.macworld.com/19ru) has been rumored
to since a leak from Digit (go.macworld.
com/dgit) in January—and yes, arguably it’s
not clear at this point which manufacturer
came up with the design first.
But by acknowledging the uncommon
model first—and long before Apple makes