In the smartphone industry there has been many types of selfie camera cutouts in various shapes, sizes and in design's. Today, we are going to discuss these types.
Punch Hole notch
This type of cutout is the most popular among selfie cameras. This type is also the most common found in today's phones. The first phone to have punch hole camera was the Honor View 20, which was released in January 2019 featuring the very first phone to have punch hole camera. This design is a universally accepted in selfie cameras. Punch hole camera is of three times; It can be in the middle, on the left side of the screen and on the right side of the screen.
Tear-Drop notch
The Tear-Drop notch was first seen on August 2017 on the Essential Phone PH-1. The Tear-drop notch is also known as a "U" shaped cutout. This was also on the Sharp Aquos S2 at the same time. This notch was prominent in the years 2018 and 2019. Tear-drop notch is still used in phones even in 2025, but it is not common. It is seen in the Redmi A5, POCO C71, Redmi 14c, OPPO A59, Galaxy FO6, MO6 and many more. This type of notch is commonly seen in budget phones and low-priced phones. Most phones above 15,000 rupees will have punch hole cameras. Although the punch hole camera is seen on flagship phones most people still prefer tear-drop notch as punch hole notch is a little bit lower on the display than tear-drop which provides more screen-to-body ratio and giving a better viewing experience.Under-Display (no notch)
The Under-Display selfie camera is the future. This type camera is not visible on the phones display and can't be seen with a naked eye. The camera is hidden under the display and positioned near the speaker. The main advantage of this type of camera is that, we get a full screen display with no interruptions from the notch, giving us more visual experience. But, there is also a disadvantage in Under-display cameras, because it is under the display the image taken is known to be a little foggy and low clarity. Some phones with under-display camera are the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra, RedMagic 10 pro, Galaxy Z fold 3,4,5,6. The camera of ZTE Axon 40 Ultra and RedMagic is known to take foggy pictures, whereas the Z fold takes better pictures with absolutely no issues just like a normal notch camera.Pop-up camera
This type of camera is also same as the under-display camera, providing full screen display. How the system works is by putting a motor in the phone and the selfie camera inside it. So, when we need to use it, it will mechanically rise from the top of the phone using it's motor. This was introduced in the early 2018 and it's first model made was by Vivo with the model name NEX. This was an innovative design and provided full screen display giving immersive experience. However, this design was a total design flaw as if the phone needed to be repaired it would be expensive and lacked IP water resistance rating. The motor and it mechanism takes a lot of valuable internal space which can be used to add more hardware or bigger battery. Because of these moving parts inside the phone added extra strain on the battery which affects battery life. Users were also concerned on durability and reliability on the motors every time they take a selfie.Some phones featuring pop-up cameras are; OnePlus 7 Pro, Oppo F11 Pro, Oppo Reno 2F, Vivo V15 Pro, Realme X, Xiaomi K20 Pro etc.
Dynamic Island
The Dynamic Island is the one of the best notches created in the smartphone industry. This idea is very innovative and is a solution to the big notches on the made from iPhone X to 14. This feature was introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro. Instead of a big notch in the middle, Apple found a creative way to utilise the notch space to make something innovative. The island is smaller than the notch and looks like an island on the display. With this Island we can use it in various ways in our daily life. Suppose, you start a timer and exit out of the app. The timer you set will be seen on the island on the top of the screen with countdown on the side of the notch, as we all know Apple is known for making smooth animations. So, the animations on the island is smooth and gives us a premium experience. The timer feature also applies same when we play music, when we exit out of the app the music we play will be on the island and we can see which music it is and can pause, play and change music by just touching on the island. When we turn on flashlight, get a call, when we charge the phone, when we unlock the phone with FaceID, when we record voice all these and many more features will be seen on the island and we can use it to seize our day.