Samsung tablet leak shows notched display, just like in the new Macbook Pro

[Lightwreather]

Summary

 Meet the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra

Quotes

Quote

Apple has made the controversial design decision to bring the iPhone notch to some of its laptops, minimizing bezel space but introducing an awkward cutout on the display area. Now, Samsung is apparently working on bringing the same idea to tablets. The reliable leaker, Steve Hemmerstoffer, aka "OnLeaks," has created renders of the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra design, and it basically looks like someone cut off the top half of a Macbook Pro, complete with that weird notch.

According to OnLeak's information, the base-model S8 Tab is expected to be an 11-inch tablet, a "Galaxy Tab S8+" will be 12.4 inches, and this notched behemoth, the Tab S8 Ultra, will have a 14.6-inch display. The renders only cover the Ultra model. The base-model S8 design leaked in a separate post, showing a more traditional design with slightly thicker bezels housing a camera module. The Ultra model features dual rear cameras, a USB-C port, quad speakers, and no headphone jack.

As usual, Hemmerstoffer's information is based on CAD files covering the location of everything (including this crazy notch), but some of the finer details could be different. This report notes that there will be magnetic connectors on the left side of the frame, but it's not clear what those will look like.

 

My thoughts

I feel like the GIF at the top is very representative of my thoughts. Samsung, Seriously? WHY!? How the heck are we supposed to hold it without the significantly increased chance of accidentally touching some part of the screen. There's literally no reason for this. Not even Apple does this on their tablets. Another question comes to mind. If this bezel is on the top in landscape mode, what if you try and use it in Portrait mode? For your sake Samsung, I hope this isn't true.

Sources

ArsTechnica

OnLeaks (@91Mobile)

Zouton

[Sauron]

ugh, stahp

 

Why do other companies always have to copy only the stupid parts of Apple products? Seriously, Samsung looked at the new MBP and their takeaway about what makes it enticing is that it has an awkward and useless notch on the screen?

[Spotty]

I wonder if these companies are coming up with the same ideas separately or if they're all just looking at Apple and copying them. 

 

7 minutes ago, J-from-Nucleon said:

what if you try and use it in Portrait mode?

That's a good point. I have a feeling it would just put a black bar on the side to hide the notch.

[jaslion]

6 minutes ago, Spotty said:

That's a good point. I have a feeling it would just put a black bar on the side to hide the notch.

That's not gonna be awkward at all :p. Worse even it's on the right hand side most likely since the camera seems to be on the left of the device. Unless they positioned the devices weirdly.

 

7 minutes ago, Spotty said:

I wonder if these companies are coming up with the same ideas separately or if they're all just looking at Apple and copying them. 

 

Considering they most likely know well before us what competitors are making I would say they are copying the design trendy company for some stupid reason.

 

I do see this tablet flopping because of the awkwardness off portrait mode asymmetry. That and wasn't there a study that showed that most people use their tablets in portrait mode too?

 

Also not hard to flop because well android tablet are kinda a deadzone as of right now and android is just not good on larger displays.

[Commodus]

17 minutes ago, Sauron said:

ugh, stahp

 

Why do other companies always have to copy only the stupid parts of Apple products? Seriously, Samsung looked at the new MBP and their takeaway about what makes it enticing is that it has an awkward and useless notch on the screen?

I'm not sure Samsung was looking at the MacBook Pro given that it was only unveiled a week ago. This was just Samsung's own clumsy idea (albeit one indirectly prompted by iPhone notches), assuming it reaches the finished product.

[saltycaramel]

Tablets pose one further challenge compared to laptop screens: what’s the right orientation where to put the webcam notch, portrait or landscape?

 

Apple kinda solved this by using an ultra-wide camera (now even on the lowest end 329$ iPad) and cropping it automatically with Center Stage. 

 

It could be possible Samsung landed on the notch as a solution independently, or it could be possible they knew about the notch via industry and supply chain insiders far before us mere mortals.

 

The question is: do they also know the iPad Pro 2022 (the first redesign in 3 years) will have a notch? And if that’s the case, would the notch be on the long side or on the short side?

 

[saltycaramel]

That said, there are 2 reasons the notch makes less sense on tablets

1) super thin borders are not necessarily desirable (you need to be able to hold the tablet with your hands, yes there are ways to ignore involuntary touches but you’re still covering content)

 

2) tablets (unlike laptop lids) are thick, there’s all the room in the world on the Z-axis to implement camera/face_recognition modules (case in point: iPad Pros already have FaceID)

[Paul Thexton]

Unless there's a great big handle on the back of it to hold the tablet, that is no longer usable as a tablet. IMO.

[Sauron]

34 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Literally because every time Apple makes something stupid, like a notch, a ton of fucking morons buy it.  Then companies, like Google and Apple copy it and more sheep buy these ugly ass products.  So, moey is why.

I doubt people buy iphones because of the notch...

[IPD]

Companies copy Apple because of their stigma, profit margins and loyal fanbase.  Nevermind that they are less reliable than a McLaren.

[saltycaramel]

The notch for Apple is now kinda like the golden arches for McDonald’s (or was it McDowell’s?). 

 

Brand recognition. You can tell an iPhone or a notch Macbook (notchbook?) from a mile away. This afforded them to move the “Macbook Pro” label to the bottom of the laptop this year. You see a notch, you see a dark all-black keyboard well, that’s a Macbook Pro. 

[Blademaster91]

If these companies are copying apple on purpose it's so dumb, and they're always copying apple on the worst things, like a notch, soldering in RAM, or removing the headphone jack. A notch on a phone or tablet is always a drawback because of that distracting cut into the screen that could just be a simple bezel to contain the camera and other sensors.

[RejZoR]

Except, unlike Apple's Macbook Pro, this is meant to rotate. Macbook Pro doesn't. And the notch is tall exactly as status bar on top in MacOS. Where I doubt it's on Android on this tablet. And that goes out the window anyways when you rotate it in portrait mode. Now, this is just stupid and lazy. And even if this was a laptop running Windows, you'd have issue with that too because Windows doens't have a status bar on top like MacOS does (or some flavors of Linux with Unity/Gnome).

[Doobeedoo]

That's just so lame.

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, Sauron said:

I doubt people buy iphones because of the notch...

That much is true. I don't mind the notch myself, especially in its smaller form on the iPhone 13 family, but it's not the design feature that reels me in. And I suspect most iPhone buyers feel the same way.

[saltycaramel]

Someone in 1984 decided the always-on upper menu bar would be a defining UI element of Macs and in 2021 this allows us to have a notch without it eating into the actual working area of the screen. Lucky unforeseen consequences.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

1 hour ago, IPD said:

Companies copy Apple because of their stigma, profit margins and loyal fanbase.  Nevermind that they are less reliable than a McLaren.

Apple laptops?
THose things are reliable has fuck.

They make be a shitty brand in terms of like, everything, but they can make a decent laptop, and a great chip.

(though they do have silly design issues, like trackpad cables like a mm to short)

BUt if you get one without some specific issues, that thing will work for ages

[shermantanker]

I can excuse/ignore apple's use of the notch on a laptop/phone because it cuts into a status bar but putting one on a tablet that can be used in any orientation is a travesty with zero justification.

[lostcattears]

4 hours ago, Sauron said:

ugh, stahp

 

Why do other companies always have to copy only the stupid parts of Apple products? Seriously, Samsung looked at the new MBP and their takeaway about what makes it enticing is that it has an awkward and useless notch on the screen?

Are they going to reverse copying them on the ports for laptops now? I certainly hope so.

[soldier_ph]

Notch on the Apple Watch/Smartwatch when ?

 

 

 

 

/s aside, if only Companies wouldn't Copycat each other in these ways...

[wamred]

This actually seems like a step backwards for them. Wasn't this the same company that used a whole punch for the selfie cam on their phones? 

 

Also, literally the new folding phone has an underscreen camera. 

[Arika]

Samsung, wtf are you doing?

 

Tablets need bezels, it's how you hold them, I almost exclusively use my tab s6 in portrait mode, unless I'm playing a game.

 

The notch needs to die 

[BuckGup]

8 hours ago, Sauron said:

ugh, stahp

 

Why do other companies always have to copy only the stupid parts of Apple products? Seriously, Samsung looked at the new MBP and their takeaway about what makes it enticing is that it has an awkward and useless notch on the screen?

Because it's polarizing and gets media attention 

[HenrySalayne]

15 hours ago, Sauron said:

Why do other companies always have to copy only the stupid parts of Apple products? Seriously, Samsung looked at the new MBP and their takeaway about what makes it enticing is that it has an awkward and useless notch on the screen?

Ok, so it took Samsung only one week to design this tablet? Impressive!

 

This is actually parallel evolution. It's nothing new. Samsung's tablets have been optimized for landscape mode before. There are currently only two options for the front camera array: punch-hole and - you guessed it - a notch. (not considering the rational choice for any device: a slightly thicker bezel)

[saltycaramel]

1 hour ago, HenrySalayne said:

Ok, so it took Samsung only one week to design this tablet? Impressive!

Pretty sure Samsung may be in the position to know about this far before me and you.