Poll: You hate the Essential Phone camera cutout – what about the latest iPhone 8 renders?

When the Essential Phone was revealed yesterday, all eyes were on one particular design feature: a display that extended right to the top of the phone, with a small cutout for the camera.

We asked whether Apple should take a similar approach with the iPhone 8, and the majority of readers were opposed. Just 22% of you thought it was a good idea, while a full 60% didn’t like it.

But what we’ve seen since then is that Apple may indeed be planning a similar approach with the iPhone 8 …

Renders based on a claimed chassis design for the device show a broadly similar approach to the Essential Phone: a display with no full forehead bezel, but rather a cutout biting into the top of the display. Given the expected dual cameras for augmented reality applications, the cutout shown is wider than that for the Essential Phone – but that’s just a variation on the theme.

So let’s compare the two. The images above show the Essential Phone left and the iPhone 8 render right. Leaving aside the purely practical issue of the dual cameras requiring a wider cutout, how do you think the designs compare?

For a fair comparison, you need to ignore the shaded section on the Essential Phone’s screen, as we’re concerned here with hardware rather than software design.

Is one design much better than the other? Slightly better? Both good? Both bad? Please take our poll, and share your thoughts on the comparison in the comments.