Developer Marco Arment Shares Thoughts On iPhone X's Notch (marco.org)

Developer Marco Arment writes about the infamous notch on the iPhone X, which Apple has told developers to embrace rather than ignore: This is the new shape of the iPhone. As long as the notch is clearly present and of approximately these proportions, it's unique, simple, and recognizable. It's probably not going to significantly change for a long time, and Apple needs to make sure that the entire world recognizes it as well as we could recognize previous iPhones. That's why Apple has made no effort to hide the notch in software, and why app developers are being told to embrace it in our designs. That's why the HomePod software leak depicted the iPhone X like this: it's the new basic, recognizable form of the iPhone. Apple just completely changed the fundamental shape of the most important, most successful, and most recognizable tech product that the world has ever seen.

Comments

Anybody who needs to identify

[fred6666]

with a unique, identifiable and recognizable shape for their phone is an idiot. Just like anybody who needs everyone to know what phone brand they use.

It may just be me, but

[93 Escort Wagon]

I’ll be sticking with my notch-less iPhone 6S for a while longer.

While there are certainly different tiers of smartphones, we’re really at the point where these are more or less commodities. They’ve been powerful enough to keep using multiple years for some time now.

So sorry, Mr. Veblun, but I won’t be spending $1000-1200 on a phone.

Seems like non-Apple people care more about looks

[SuperKendall]

The funny thing about the notch to me is I don't really care about it, it seems like non-Apple people are making a bigger deal out of this than the Apple people...

I thought Apple people were the ones who cared about superficial looks, but that does not appear to be the case.

On a side note I didn't get the part of the video where he was swiping up to home, he was pretending he meant to scroll instead? But who does that from a tab bar, honestly. The rest of the video was amusing though.

Re:Not worse than the headphone jack

[JohnFen]

Removing the headphone jack is about waterproofing.

Why couldn't Apple figure out how to make a waterproof device with a headphone jack? Other devices have been managing it for years.

Re: In real use that will almost never matter.

[TimMD909]

You people who don't rotate end up shooting videos vertically. You are the root of all that's evil in this world and YouTube. Rotate your damn cell phones.

Re:Who is 'Developer Marco Arment'?

[JohnFen]

And why should we care?

I care about this for the same reason I care about the headphone jack: I fear that other manufacturers will copy this shit from Apple.

Re:Seems like non-Apple people care more about loo

[0xdeadbeef]

I thought Apple people were the ones who cared about superficial looks, but that does not appear to be the case.

This is how a fanboy admits that Apple really fucked up the aesthetics.

But who does that from a tab bar, honestly.

"It's not bad ergonomics if I can train myself to stop doing it."

Re:Where is the compromise?

[StikyPad]

The compromise is that it's asymmetrical from top to bottom, or from side to side in landscape. Rounded corners are ridiculous too IMO -- they certainly weren't a "feature" in CRTs -- but at least they seem like a deliberate choice. The notch feels like they tried to cram too much on the front of the phone. Personally I would have preferred removing everything from the front except a fingerprint-through-glass sensor. If an edge-to-edge screen is *that* important, then do it all the way. If it's not, then leave a bezel. A notch is a half-assed compromise.