Google limits Android smartphones to have no more than two notches

With the growing notch trend among smartphones, Google has laid down some strict rules regarding it, including phones to no more feature more than two notches.

Google released its blog post for developers recently in which it mentioned that the company is working together with device partners ‘to mandate a few requirements’ for app compatibility purposes which includes putting a limit on notches.

As Google is building official notch support in its upcoming operating system Android P, it also says that smartphones with Android P can’t have ‘more than two cutouts on a device’. Only one notch is allowed per side and can only be on the top and bottom, and not on the phone’s left and right.

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According to The Verge, currently there are no phones with even two notches so this ban is all theoretical for now. However, since the notch designs are growing with each passing day, Google made sure to restrict beforehand so that apps can run properly on these new screens.

The actual reason for the restrictions is to ensure the proper display of apps, regardless of the device, since these notches can cut into the area that an app often displays in. In the new Android P, Google has incorporated controls for letting apps either avoid or embrace the notch.

However, due to Android being an open source, Google does not have a complete control over it and cannot entirely stop any smartphone manufacturer from making a device with three or more notches. Thus, it is possible for any manufacturer to disobey Google and still make phones with over two notches, and yet still run on Android, wrote Engadget.

As per Google, Android is on 16 cutout phones from 11 various manufacturers running Android on their notch-design displays, with more to be coming up. But, it is most likely that with this restriction, Android developers won’t go too head over heels with their notch displays.