Chinese smartphone makers are ripping off iPhone X’s notch

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iPhone X notch clone
It's just notch necessary.
Photo: Benjamin Geskin

There are lots of wonderful things that rival smartphone makers could steal from the iPhone X, but its notch shouldn’t be one of them. It seems some Chinese vendors didn’t get that memo — as you can see from these photos of one iPhone clone with a notch of its own.

Every time Apple redesigns the iPhone, there’s a race to copy it among smaller smartphone makers — mostly those in China. Being the first to market with a phone that looks just like the latest iPhone, with a drastically smaller price tag, usually means big business.

Doogee recognizes that, which is why its new V series smartphone has dual rear-facing cameras just like iPhone X’s, and a display that’s almost exactly the same shape as iPhone X’s. But Doogee also stole iPhone X’s worst feature, and that’s its notch.

Is there anything they won’t clone?

Just like Apple, Doogee uses the notch to accommodate a speaker, front-facing camera, and the usual sensors. There is no TrueDepth camera in there for Face ID, however. This particular handset, posted on Twitter by Benjamin Geskin, also has a 6.1-inch screen with rounded edges.

Unlike iPhone X, though, the Doogee still has a physical button. Its display doesn’t extend all the way to the bottom edge of the phone, which makes us wonder if there’s any point in it extending all the way to the top. Why not cut it off before the notch? Are those horns either side really needed?

It seems we can forgive the notch on iPhone X because the rest of the device is beautiful, and there are plenty of stellar features to help you get over it. But I’m almost certain that isn’t the case with the Doogee. I could be wrong, but this looks like another budget Android that’s not that great.

If you need a notch in your life and you haven’t got $1,000 to spare, it’s at least an option. In China.

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