It looks like Samsung was thinking about slapping a little nub of a home button on the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. This is according to a patent published by the European Trade Mark and Design Network, uncovered by Android Headlines. Despite having a nearly bezel-less display on their latest flagships, the South Korean manufacturer apparently considered modeling the design after last year’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.
The button is a lot smaller than the S7 variants. Android Headlines even speculates that it’s possible the button was actually a fingerprint scanner, as it doesn’t pop through on either side of the design. Though, what is noticeable is the fact that this design features the infamous Bixby button, indicating that the physical home button may have been a serious prototype considered for the S8 lineup.
The patent was registered on April 7, 2017 and published on April 28, indicating that Samsung may have been experimenting with the idea of the home button up until the last minute of the Galaxy S8’s release. It’s possible that the tech company never planned on using the home button, and perhaps just wanted to secure it as an option before someone else beat them to it.
For those of you used to using your thumb to wake your phone, having a physical home button on the Galaxy S8s might sound like a nice idea. But can you imagine trying to press that tiny little awkwardly-placed thing every time you needed to enter your phone? It would probably increase the chances of dropping your phone if your finger ever slipped, and it surely wouldn’t work great with a case, either.
Not only that, but why ruin Samsung’s sleek design? The smartphone looks bezel-less and infinite for a reason. There’s no need to ruin it by putting a little sliver of a home button to distract you from how great it looks.
All in all, we do have to give Samsung some credit for not going with this design. It’s not like they need any more hate at the moment. I think they’ve got all that junk pretty much covered.
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