Samsung seems like it's trying to disguise the hole-punch display on the Galaxy S10, but it really doesn't have to

Antonio Villas-Boas

Mar 2, 2019, 17:00 IST

Samsung seems like it's trying to disguise the hole-punch display on the Galaxy S10, but it really doesn't have to

Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider

Samsung's wallpapers that come with the Galaxy S10 smartphones all have a darker area where the selfie camera hole-punch cutout is found on the top right of the display.
Samsung hasn't shown that it's ashamed of its hole-punch cutout, but the wallpapers do seem like they're designed to hide the camera.
It's similar to Apple's iPhone XS wallpapers, which completely obscure the notch on the iPhone XS.

When scrolling through the Galaxy S10's wallpapers, I noticed how they all have a darker area towards the top right.

I could be crazy, but it seems like Samsung intentionally darkened the top right of its Galaxy S10 wallpapers to hide the hole-punch selfie camera ports on its Infinity O displays.

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It immediately reminds me of Apple's iPhone XS wallpapers that are seemingly designed to hide the rather large and wide notch on its display. Apple was even sued by a woman who claimed its marketing images with the notch-hiding wallpapers misled her, as she didn't know the iPhone XS had a notch.

In Samsung's case, the company doesn't seem to be ashamed of the hole-punch cutout, as it actively called its hole-punch display "Infinity O," where the "O" denotes the fact that Samsung's Galaxy S10 phones have an "O" shaped hole for the selfie camera. (On the S10 Plus, it's more of an oval rather than a circle.)

Still, the wallpapers that come with the Galaxy S10 do seem like they're trying to obscure the selfie camera cutouts.

Check it out:

For starters, here's Apple's iPhone wallpaper that hides the notch on the iPhone XS.

Here's a photo of the iPhone XS that's not from Apple's marketing. Can you spot the notch?

When you pick a different wallpaper, the iPhone XS' notch reveals itself. It's a contrast compared to the wallpaper designed to hide the notch.

Now let's compare that to the Galaxy S10. Here's one of Samsung's default wallpapers.

Here's another one. Notice how dark the upper-right corner is? It's very subtle.

In fact, all the stock wallpapers are conveniently dark around the punch-hole area of the Galaxy S10 phones.

Once you use your own wallpaper, the S10's hole-punch becomes more apparent.

In reality, the hole-punch isn't that bad! And you can make the most of it with wallpapers that actually use the hole-punch on the S10 display, like this Johnny 5 wallpaper ...

#Johnny5 wallpaper for #GalaxyS10plus :D@MKBHD pic.twitter.com/iu3jUBjrvv

— Matt B (@Mattcabb) February 27, 2019

... Or this Bender wallpaper.

Not so sure about #bender from #futurama. Too much emotions in his original eyes. pic.twitter.com/I5F4kqLlQ3

— Matt B (@Mattcabb) February 27, 2019

As for the regular Galaxy S10 with a single punch-hole? The obvious choice is R2D2.

Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time finding a place to download these wallpapers for us to use — if you're reading this, Matt B., I must have the Johnny 5 wallpaper for the Galaxy S10 Plus.

#GalaxyS10 with single front camera and #R2D2 looking at you! pic.twitter.com/Zb7319m8Lv

— Matt B (@Mattcabb) February 27, 2019