Android P announced with support for iPhone X-style notches

Google has released the latest major Android update, known as Android P. One of the more noticeable additions is native support for notches in the top of the display, akin to the iPhone X.

Since Apple added the notch to the iPhone X, numerous Android phones have added a notch to their latest handsets as well.

Android P makes it easy for manufacturers to add a notch to the device by supporting it on an OS level.

Google says it supports “the latest edge-to-edge screens with display cutout for camera and speaker,” and a new “DisplayCutout” class for outlining the notch on an Android device.

The notch was going to be inevitable as manufacturers push for larger edge-to-edge displays.

Several new Android handsets like the Leagoo S9, Asus ZenFone 5, LG’s upcoming G7 and more are all going to be featuring a notch.

Notch support isn’t the only feature in Android P. It also has indoor position APIs, multi-camera support, HEIF image support, better notifications, and more.

You can learn more about it on Google’s dev site.

Android P is available today for developers with a public release to follow beta testing. Considering this is a first beta, it is considerably early in the development cycle and will undoubtedly be buggy and not ready for day-to-day use.