What was the first smartphone to feature a display notch?

The first smartphone to feature a display notch was the Essential Phone. Announced in May 2017 and released that August, its screen had a small cut-out around the front-facing camera.

Essential Products designed the PH-1 around an edge-to-edge display while keeping the selfie camera on the front. The camera’s position created the distinctive notch, allowing the bezels around the rest of the screen to remain unusually narrow for the time.

The iPhone X, announced later in September 2017, made the notch famous and turned it into a defining smartphone trend. It used a much wider notch for its camera and Face ID sensors, so many people mistakenly credit Apple with inventing the design. The Essential Phone came first, although Apple popularized it globally.

The Essential Phone paired its notch with a titanium frame, ceramic back, Snapdragon 835 processor, and a 5.71-inch display. The LG G6 and OnePlus 5T were also contemporary bezel-reduction efforts, but neither introduced the first mainstream smartphone notch.