300 Million Smartphones With a Notch to be Sold in 2018: Counterpoint

Notches on smartphones have gonefrom being hated to accepted. LG even conducted a survey before finalizing the design of the newly launchedG7 ThinQand found out the respondentsassociate notches with luxury and status.

Following the hype created by theiPhone X, many brands including Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Asus have launched smartphones with notches. Now, asAndroid P embraces the notch, there is no doubting thatmore manufacturers will adopt the design. A recent report fromCounterpointsupports this belief and has predicted that the market trend is here to stay and grow.

Counterpoint predicts that300 million smartphones with notches would be sold in this calendar year. This represents19% of the total number of smartphones which would soldthis year. Android OEMs like Asus, Oppo, Vivo, Huawei, and other combined will contribute to 55% of the smartphones with a notch.Samsung advertisement making fun of the notch

At the same time, we expect three new iPhones this year and combined with the iPhone X, theseiPhones will account for 45% of the notched-up smartphones. Despite having a smaller percentage, Apple will be on the top of the brand-wise leaderboard in terms of units sold.

Counterpoint also predicts that, based on earlier trends, manufacturers will firstbring the notch to their premium devicesand later to other devices. The budget segment i.e. that of smartphones below $200 will be the last to embrace the notch and offerings from tier-I brands likeSamsungand Xiaomi willdepend on “competitive pressure and consumer feedback“,says the report.

Counterpoint also notes some of the reasons that could inspire brands to bring notches to more devices. For flagships and other premium devices, it means creating space for those all-important sensors while increasing the screen-to-body ratio as in the case of iPhone X’sFace ID sensors. For mid-range devices, brands will use notches tomaximize the area for the screen.

The report also notes the possibility of brands which make displays such as LG and Samsung“pushing” other brands to adopt the design. For budget and low-end devices, it would simply mean following the trend andaping design standards set by Apple and other top brands– as seen in the case of the dual camera setup on many recently launched devices, which also copy the iPhone X.

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