Why are phones allowed to have bulges and chins and notches, but laptops somehow are too "thin" to do the same? For that matter, why hasn't anyone made a laptop screen with a centre notch? people accepted that for phones and now every large manufacturer of phones use notches in their phones.
Laptops are much larger and heavier so it's really doable to include a better camera.
For the bulges you have to consider that most people use phone cases, which gives the designers a bit more room.
On laptops you can either create a bump on the backside of the lid, which looks weird as the use of it is not obvious, or you can extend the camera in the front and create a dent in the bottom shell, which also has no clear use and seems out of place. Either way, it will look and feel weird.
On phones it at least highlights the powerful camera and most users are not bothered by it as it extends into the phone case.
This "look weird" issue also applies to the phone bumps, it's just that you haven't seen it before.
When the phone bumps and notches were first introduced it was plenty weird and ugly and obvious with no clear prediction of whether people will be bothered with it or not.
Obviously people are fine with it now.
If the market is a bit open minded with laptops, we can all have better webcams. Form follows function. If I can get a notched laptop with a great 4K laptop webcam, I couldn't care less that it has a weird notch.
I mean, it's one thing to have a part of my phone that is 15% thicker than the rest, but it is another thing entirely to have a part of my laptop screen that is 400% thicker than the rest ;P.
Why are phones allowed to have bulges and chins and notches, but laptops somehow are too "thin" to do the same? For that matter, why hasn't anyone made a laptop screen with a centre notch? people accepted that for phones and now every large manufacturer of phones use notches in their phones.
Laptops are much larger and heavier so it's really doable to include a better camera.
The only thing blocking isn't technical.