OnePlus 6 will let you hide its notch, but not right away
More and more information on the OnePlus 6 is being revealed ahead of its launch, and now the Chinese firm has confirmed that its upcoming flagship smartphone will let you hide the notch in its display - but not at launch.
Writing on the OnePlus forum, CEO Pete Lau replied to a comment regarding the previously announced notch feature, saying: "A black-out feature was seriously considered in the early stages of the development of the OnePlus 6.
"At the time we decided against adding this feature. We wanted to focus all of our time and resources on delivering an exceptional full-screen experience. I still believe the best way to experience the OnePlus 6 is using the full potential of the display.
"Recently many users have raised interest in having a black-out function. We respect your feedback, and would like to give everyone the ability to choose.
"This function will enable you to black out the background of the notifications and status bar. It will be added in a future software update released after the launch of the OnePlus 6."
To notch, or not to notch?
This isn't the first time we've heard about hiding a screen notch, with the Huawei P20 and P20 Pro allowing users to "turn off" the indentation at the top of the display.
Rather than remove the notch from the screen, the feature applies black bars either side of it, effectively reducing the height of the display to form a perfect rectangle.
There are apps available on the App Store for the iPhone X as well, which claim to hide the notch from view in a similar fashion to Huawei's implementation.
It's not clear when the software update for the phone will land. OnePlus is yet to even confirm a launch date, let alone a release date, for its next mobile, although rumors suggest it'll arrive in either April or May.
