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Android 11 DP2: New developer options simulate punch-hole, waterfall displays

Display cutouts are the lay of the land in 2020 and to help developers out with all of the new designs, Google is adding a new option to Android 11’s developer options to simulate punch hole cutouts and waterfall displays.

Punch hole displays have exploded in popularity in the past year or so with everyone from Samsung to Huawei and many, many more. Alongside that, waterfall displays are starting to show up on some devices and while, personally, I’m very much against them, it’s a trend that will probably continue to gain steam.

To help developers better optimize their apps for these different types of cutouts and displays, Google is adding some new simulation options to Android 11. In previous developer previews for Android 10 and even Android Pie, there were cutout simulations for different notch shapes and in Android 11, there are new simulations for punch hole and waterfall displays.

The punch hole simulation puts a selfie camera-sized black dot at the top-left of the screen while the waterfall simulator restricts the UI to the center of the screen, shaving off the edges in some areas.

Punch hole (middle) and waterfall (right) simulations

By the way, Pixel 4a is going to feature a punch-hole display on the left side of the screen. Coincidence? I think not!

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Avatar for Ben Schoon Ben Schoon

Ben is a Senior Editor for 9to5Google.

Find him on Twitter @NexusBen. Send tips to schoon@9to5g.com or encrypted to benschoon@protonmail.com.


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