Android 9 Pie vs Android 8.0 Oreo Walkthrough: What’s New

Display Notch Support

In what's perhaps one of the worst new features, but a necessary one is support for the "Notch". Google knows that a lot of phones have or will copy Apple and the iPhone X/Xs, and add a notch to the screen.

In fact, almost every major phone in 2018 copied Apple. From the OnePlus 6, LG G7, ASUS phones and even Google's Pixel 3 XL. Giving users a bigger screen but putting a notch in the display to house the speaker or front-facing camera. Some shrunk the notch, like the OnePlus 6T, but not all. 

Google added full support to customize and change the size of the notch in Android. This way manufacturers can work around it so the interface works as intended, and developers can prepare for it too. This includes the ability to "hide" the notch with software ( a black bar) so the phone looks like it has a more traditional bezel.

Plus, apps now play nice with the notch, cutouts, or other weird screen changes.