If any phone manufacturer is going to get rid of the notch and chin around the display of their phones, one of the obstacles they’ll have to deal with is the earpiece — the one speaker that is required for a phone to be a phone.
At the SID 2018 conference, Samsung Display and LG Display were found demonstrating “sound-emitting displays” at their booths where the panel, connected to the sound actuators, vibrates and produces audible sound only when it makes contact with the user’s ear — body conduction has been used in place of a speaker on phones before, including those from Kyocera and Xiaomi.
According to The Electronic Times, sources say it seems that both chaebols are working on implementing the technology to phones set for release early next year — that would be the Galaxy S10 for Samsung and likely the LG G8.
Beyond demonstrations, LG is reported to be working backwards from its innovations on the television side with its sound-emitting panels — that could hint at speakers that don’t need to conduct with skin to work.
However, the main priority with this purported move is to kill as much bezel space as possible. Notches and chins be damned.