Huawei and Porsche Design have been working together for a few years now, creating a few different versions of Huawei’s Mate smartphones, and when it announced the P20 back in March, it also debuted the Mate RS which is a Porsche Design-branded smartphone. It’s a $1880 smartphone that has a bezel-less display and no notch. That is simply because Porsche Design’s Design Director, Christian Schwamkrug told Huawei no, to the notch. Schwamkrug said that the notch was “disturbing” and it interrupts the design of the smartphone. Thus, the Mate RS is here without a notch.
Digital Trends actually spoke with Porsche Design at its headquarters in Austria, and spoke with its Design Director, Christian Schwamkrug about the project with Huawei. Schwamkrug said that this was project was the “most intense” for the company. As it had discussions on every little detail of the phone, even down to the amount of mirroring on the backside. Schwamkrug also said that when he saw the notch for the first time he “nearly couldn’t believe it”, saying it’s disturbing from a design philosophy. He elaborated, stating that “a picture is either rectangular or square, with a border line, and a clear frame format.”Schwamkrug also said that he thinks the notch is a compromise.
It’s obvious that design was important to Schwamkrug and Porsche Design, which isn’t a huge surprise, considering they are designers after all. And like most designers, symmetry is important here. Which is why many designers are so dead-set against using a notch on smartphones. And that’s what really makes the Huawei Mate RS smartphone stand out from other smartphones like the P20 and P20 Pro that the company also unveiled at the same event. The Mate RS is a pretty expensive smartphone from Huawei, though it does have 512GB of internal storage, as well as a full-screen display that doesn’t have a notch, so it is definitely worth paying more than some other smartphones. But the $1880 price tag is still pretty high, and it’s not going to be a phone for everyone.