HMD Global removed hide notch ability on Nokia 6.1 Plus, but why?

Notches have become one of the most divisive trends in smartphones this year, as companies follow Essential and Apple in adopting the display cutout.

Some of HMD’s Nokia phones also feature notches but, like other brands, the company has allowed users to “hide” the notch via a software setting. However, the feature was recently removed on the Nokia 6.1 Plus, according to a thread on the Nokia community forum.

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“Unfortunately we had to remove the notch hide option as per Google requirement (sic),” read a now-deleted message on the forum from a moderator.

The move stirred debate online, but HMD Global chief product officer Juho Sarvikas has now stepped in with another message. “Just to close the ‘notch gate,’ we will enable setting to black out notch on the Nokia 6.1 Plus (sic),” the executive tweeted.

It’s unclear why the option was removed in the first place, but we’re glad to see HMD resurrecting the setting anyway.

Our Android Authority reader poll earlier this year found that almost four out of ten respondents wouldn’t buy a phone with a notch. Additionally, 13 percent of users said they’d only buy a phone with a notch if the cutout could be hidden. Just over 20 percent of respondents thought notches were “fine,” while only five percent actually loved the feature.

We asked HMD Global whether Google had anything to do with the initial decision, but a representative declined to comment.