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HMD Global removed hide notch ability on Nokia 6.1 Plus, but why?

The Nokia 6.1 Plus has temporarily lost its ability to hide the notch, but is it Google's fault?
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Published onSeptember 7, 2018

The notch-toting Nokia 6.1 Plus.
TL;DR
  • Nokia 6.1 Plus users can no longer hide the phone’s notch due to Google requirements, an HMD Global representative said.
  • The representative’s message on the Nokia community forum has since been deleted.
  • HMD executive Juho Sarvikas later clarified that the ability to hide the notch will be enabled again.

Notches have become one of the most divisive trends in smartphones this year, as companies follow Essential and Apple in adopting the display cutout.

Some of HMD’s Nokia phones also feature notches but, like other brands, the company has allowed users to “hide” the notch via a software setting. However, the feature was recently removed on the Nokia 6.1 Plus, according to a thread on the Nokia community forum.

Read: Best budget phones you can buy (August 2018)

“Unfortunately we had to remove the notch hide option as per Google requirement (sic),” read a now-deleted message on the forum from a moderator.

The move stirred debate online, but HMD Global chief product officer Juho Sarvikas has now stepped in with another message. “Just to close the ‘notch gate,’ we will enable setting to black out notch on the Nokia 6.1 Plus (sic),” the executive tweeted.

Just to close the “notch gate”, we will enable setting to black out notch on the Nokia 6.1 Plus.
Have a great & relaxing weekend everyone! ?️ #nokiamobile
— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) September 7, 2018

It’s unclear why the option was removed in the first place, but we’re glad to see HMD resurrecting the setting anyway.

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News

Our Android Authority reader poll earlier this year found that almost four out of ten respondents wouldn’t buy a phone with a notch. Additionally, 13 percent of users said they’d only buy a phone with a notch if the cutout could be hidden. Just over 20 percent of respondents thought notches were “fine,” while only five percent actually loved the feature.

We asked HMD Global whether Google had anything to do with the initial decision, but a representative declined to comment.

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