The notch is a physical design compromise in mobile devices that maximizes screen real estate by wrapping the display around essential front-facing hardware. It typically contains the front camera, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, and sometimes facial recognition projectors. Hardware designers use this cutout to push the screen closer to the bezel, though it requires software adaptations to prevent the operating system interface from hiding behind the dead space.
Heard on the job
The new UI update keeps pushing the battery percentage behind the notch on the smaller handset models.