✂️ A small cut ✂️ To make a cut 📱 Screen cutout ⛰️ A mountain pass

notch

17 5.6

A small cut in the top of a phone screen that holds the front camera and sensors

noun
/nɑtʃ/

Specialized

: muesca

So the top of the screen where the notch is, the notch cuts into the menu bar.

Touch Bar ports, the notch, there's so many things to talk about.

Examples

And then a smaller phone means the same size notch will actually take up more of your display area.
Many people think the notch on their phone's display is essential for the front-facing sensors.
And then the front on the pro, the notch is now a pill.
It's got rounded corners and it's got the highly controversial notch in the top.
Same screen sizes and resolutions, same notch, same bezels.
You have a very slender forehead and chin, but no notch, no cut out.
It has this little notch here that I don't think is a problem whatsoever and it works well with the face unlock.
And this gigantic notch in this laptop only has a webcam and like the ambient light sensor and like maybe the microphone and that's it.
The latest smartphone features a notch at the top of the screen that houses the front camera.
This model has a noticeable notch that interrupts the flow of the display area.

Idioms

a notch above

1 4.3

Slightly better than similar people or things in quality

notch on someone's bedpost

Informal

8.2

A success someone counts to show they are making progress

Compounds

top notch

Informal

38 3.6

Of the highest quality and better than most similar things

mandibular notch

Specialized

9.5

A small curved dip on the top edge of the lower jaw between two bony points

How Large

notch

Specialized

17 5.6

pinhole

9 4.3

Surface Forms

notch singular

notches plural

Etymology

Notch for phones is a modern use based on the old meaning of a small cut or gap, because the screen has a tiny 'cut' at the top for the camera and sensors. So the phone notch is the small place where parts fit into the edge of the screen.