Samsung has so far steered clear of using notches in its phones, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t want to build phones with edge-to-edge displays. In fact, the company has teased the upcoming Galaxy A8s, which could be Samsung’s first phone with a truly edge-to-edge display.
While the likes of Apple, Google, OnePlus, and others have all adopted the concept of the notch for their latest and greatest flagship phones, Samsung has so far steered clear of the trend. That, however, doesn’t mean Samsung doesn’t want to build phones with an edge-to-edge display. In fact, it does. But how can it do that without using a notch? Well, turns out it could build a phone with a hole in the display instead.
At a launch event for the Galaxy A9s and A6s, Samsung teased a device called the Galaxy A8s, and it’s expected that this will be the first phone from Samsung with a truly edge-to-edge display. According to known Samsung leaker Ice Universe, the Galaxy A8s will have a hole drilled into the display through which a front-facing camera will be able to see.
While it doesn’t constitute a notch, a hole in the display might basically be considered the same thing. It will be noticeable when you’re viewing full-screen content, and it will make the title of fully edge-to-edge display debatable considering the fact that part of the area isn’t actually display. Still, the fact is that the smaller the cutout on the display, the less noticeable it will be — and the closer we get to an edge-to-edge reality.
The release is particularly exciting considering the fact that it’s seen as something of a stepping stone to the Samsung Galaxy S10, which may feature a fully edge-to-edge display with a range of new technologies designed to hide things like front-facing speakers, cameras, and fingerprint sensors under the display. It’s currently unclear if Samsung will adopt all of these technologies for the S10, or if it’s working on them to incorporate in another future model.
It’s also possible some of this new tech could show up in the Galaxy A8s. For example, Samsung is working on a way to incorporate a front-facing speaker by vibrating the entirety of the display. It could also include an in-display fingerprint sensor into the phone.
When it comes to other specs, the Galaxy A range is generally midrange. The newly announced Galaxy A9s features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, coupled with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It’s likely that similar specs will end up in the Galaxy A8s.
