Possible explanation for iPhone X notch

[gaanee]

Hands-on videos of iPhone X show that the Control Center and Notification Center are now swipe down from the top Right and Left corners and not anywhere along the top edge as in older models. So by keeping those 'ears' on either side of the notch provides a cue that those areas are functional. If those status bar ears were shaded with a black strip to blend-in with the notch, there wouldn't have been any indication that a swipe down from tow different areas can trigger two different things, since the status bar would have looked similar to the older models.

 

[DynamicSausage]

I think that's just happy coincidence really. They actually just wanted to fill as much surface area as possible with screen but needed somewhere to put the speaker and FaceID tech.