Lenovo is teasing a notchless all-screen phone

While most Android phone makers are going the way of the notch lately, I’m happy to report that Lenovo’s bravely trying a different approach with its next flagship.

Over the weekend, the company’s VP Chang Cheng took to Weibo to share a sketch of the upcoming Lenovo Z5 (above) – and it’s all screen in the front. Well, 95 percent screen, anyway.

The post follows a render that partially shows a notchless phone. CNet notes that Cheng claimed the Z5 will benefit from “four technological breakthroughs” and “18 patented technologies,” which seem necessary, given that an all-screen front will require Lenovo to hide components like the selfie camera, speaker, and sensors.

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Can it be done? Back in February, Vivo showed off its Apex concept phone which not only hid a fingerprint sensor beneath the display, but also packed a pop-up camera into the top portion of the device so as to avoid having to carve a notch into the screen.

Android P will officially support devices with notches when it arrives, so you likely won’t find it disrupting the day-to-day experience with your device – but it’s annoying to see phone makers follow Apple’s lead blindly, instead of innovating in design on their own.

In any case, I’m stoked for the Z5 – but I do hope that it’s smaller than the 5.9-inch size that’s slowly becoming the norm for narrow-bezel devices. A 5-inch or 4.7-inch handset, with dimensions similar to the iPhone SE’s, is more like it – feel free to make it a few millimeters thicker if that’s what it takes.

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