Oliver Haslam·

iPhone 8 Notch: Should Apple Hide It Or Embrace It?

We are inching ever nearer to the announcement of what we now all expect to be called the iPhone 8, and if there is one thing that we can all agree on beyond the name it is the fact that it now appears increasingly likely that the device will include a “notch” of sorts at the time of the display which will house sensors for Face ID, ambient light, FaceTime camera and earpiece.

This area is a necessity that leaves Apple with an interesting quandary. Does it try to hide the notch by moving user interface elements around, or does it embrace it?

That is the question that has been asked of late, and one which led to Max Rudberg creating some mock-ups of what Apple could do either way. Current iOS 11 betas appear to include a curious design feature which has large, bold text at the top of some apps such as the App Store and Messages with many apps also having a large white area with navigation buttons above that text.

This may be a nod to the iPhone 8, with iOS 11 set to shift those navigation elements to the bottom of the display, perhaps as part of that “function area” we heard so much about a few months ago. That’s plausible, assuming that area does exist on the iPhone 8.

Rudberg has gone a similar route with his mock-up, showing a functional area of sorts. He has also focused on that notch we mentioned earlier, with two concepts showing how that could be handled. One of those shows the notch being blended into the status bar, effectively making it invisible alongside an inky black bar made possible by the use of an AMOLED display this time around. The other option, and our favorite, is to simply embrace the notch and leave it loud and proud. This certainly makes for a more interesting look and allows the display to “feel” larger.

image credit: Max Rudberg

We know which option we would go for, but what about you guys? Which design do you prefer?

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