Flipkart survey says notch is ‘most wanted’ feature, raises more questions

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A new smartphone survey by Indian e-commerce company Flipkart has apparently found that the notch is the most desirable feature in a phone. We say “apparently” because the survey seems to raise more questions than answers.

The Flipkart survey, created in conjunction with Indian media site First Post, doesn’t cite any specific figures, sample size or details for the notch love. Instead, the survey results state the display cutout is a “most wanted feature” and that “most millenials” prefer a notch.

Flipkart

This comes a few months after our Android Authority poll (with roughly 50,000 votes), which found that 38 percent of users wouldn’t buy a phone with a notch. A further 23 percent of respondents said they don’t like the feature, but would live with it. Additionally, 13 percent of users said they’d only buy a phone with a notch if the cutout could be hidden via software.

Just over 20 percent of respondents to our poll said the notch was “fine,” while only five percent actually liked the feature. So at least 74 percent of our readers had an issue with the notch — a stark contrast from Flipkart and First Post’s survey.

Of course, the Android Authority audience no doubt differs from their audience, given that they are Indian media and retail companies. Nevertheless, the finding’s are wildly different.

Delving deeper into the survey

Flipkart

As GSMArena points out, the frequent use of the word “real” in the Flipkart survey suggests that this may be part of a marketing push for the Realme 2 smartphone, scheduled for an August 28 launch. In fact, the Flipkart survey specifically uses red letters for “real” when mentioning the word “reality.” This seems to match up with the red “real” in the Realme 2 press invite.

The Realme 2 is also set to be equipped with a notch, and leaked renders (see the top image) suggest the smartphone may arrive in black and blue color variants (two of the three “colors that India really loves” noted in the survey).

Meanwhile, the survey also found that 57 percent of respondents valued fast performance as their must-have feature in a new phone. This was followed by a great camera (19 percent) and long endurance (18 percent). It’s possible that these will also be highlights of the Realme 2.

Whether the survey is related to the upcoming Realme handset is just speculation currently but we’ve contacted Flipkart for more information on the survey and its methodology, and will update the article when we receive answers.

What are your thoughts on the survey? Let us know in the comments.

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