Sharp Aquos R3 Snapdragon 855 Flagship Lands With 120Hz IGZO Display And Dual Notches

by Brandon Hill — Thursday, May 09, 2019, 09:45 AM EDT

The Essential Phone introduced us to the display notch, and its prevalence in flagship phones ballooned with the release of the Apple iPhone X a few months later. Now, save for a few smartphones from Chinese OEMs with pop-up selfie cameras, most flagship smartphones have some type of display notch.

However, Sharp isn't content with just having a single notch on its latest smartphone: the Aquos R3. Instead, the smartphone has two notches -- one at the top, and one at the bottom. The top notch wraps around the 16.3MP selfie camera, while the bottom notch curves around the bottom-mounted fingerprint sensor.

It's definitely an interesting looking device with the dual notches, and it seems quite "quaint" to see a device with a visible front-facing fingerprint sensor these days. With that being said the Aquos R3 has a rather large 6.2-inch Pro IGZO display panel with a resolution of 3120x1440. And if that wasn't enough, HDR10 support is baked in along with a sizzling 120Hz refresh rate (which mirrors that of the Razer Phone/Razer Phone 2).

Other specs for Aquos R3 pretty much match up with other 2019 flagship phones including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Sharp has placed dual cameras on the back including a 12.2MP sensor for photos, and a dedicated 20MP sensor for video. There's a 3200 mAh battery onboard and wireless charging is supported.

At this time, pricing and availability is not yet known for the Sharp Aquos R3, although it is likely to be a Japan-exclusive.

Tags: Qualcomm, Sharp, IGZO, snapdragon 855, aquos r3

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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