Huawei Might Beat Samsung In Releasing First Smartphone With Hole In Display

Samsung is rumored to be preparing for the launch of the Galaxy A8s, which is said to be the first to come with a hole in its display. However, it looks like Huawei is releasing a smartphone with a similar design.

Huawei recently shared a promotional image on its Weibo account. The image shows a silhouette of an unspecified smartphone. The image appears to be teasing a full-screen smartphone with a hole in its display at the upper left-hand side, which is symbolized by an oncoming comet. This type of display is very similar to the Infinity O display that Samsung teased earlier this month during its developers conference. Huawei has confirmed to The Verge that the promotional material is indeed legit.

Huawei has revealed that it will share more information about this new smartphone on Dec. 3. If the Chinese phone maker is indeed launching the phone on that date, then Huawei would beat Samsung to the punch in releasing the first smartphone with a camera hole in its display. Samsung’s Galaxy A8s, which is believed to be the first device to have an Infinity O display, is expected to arrive sometime in early 2019.

The Samsung Galaxy A8s is expected to be an upper mid-range Android smartphone powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor with a 3,000mAh battery. Like the Galaxy A7 (2018), the Galaxy A8s will have a set of triple cameras on its back. The handset won’t have an in-display fingerprint scanner and instead will have a rear-mounted scanner.

Prominent Twitter leaker Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) has already shared an image of what appears to be a screen protector for Samsung’s Infinity O display. ETNews also reported this Sunday that Samsung Display has already begun mass production of the Infinity O panels intended for the Galaxy S10. Meanwhile, the Infinity O displays that are intended for the Galaxy A8s will be mass produced by Chinese display maker BOE. The Infinity O display on the Galaxy S10 is believed to be an OLED variant, while the one for the Galaxy A8s will be an LCD display.

There are no leaks yet about Huawei’s upcoming “hole-screen” smartphone, but Ice Universe is adamant that it will be released before the Galaxy A8s. Samsung could reveal official details about the Galaxy A8s in December and release the handset in January, but that seems unlikely. A more likely scenario is that Samsung will introduce the Galaxy A8s in January during CES 2019 and start selling the device soon afterwards.