Phone manufacturers keep coming out with new ways to achieve a bezel-less display. There is the notch, the punch hole display, the dual display design, the slider design, and the pop-out camera design. A Samsung patent for the S Pen might just be the most interesting of all.
The S Pen got an upgrade last year that brought fast-charging and Bluetooth connectivity. The latter allowed you to use the S Pen as a remote control for the camera. But what if the S Pen itself was the camera? That is what this patent which was first filed at the Korean patent office back in February 2016 says.
According to the patent description, the S Pen will house an image sensor and a lens with optical zoom. The pen will have a control key (button) to control the optical zoom and a controller with a communication interface that helps it communicate with the phone.
The controller with the communication interface will confirm images taken by the camera. The description also says the optical zoom of the camera can be controlled by the phone. It may also be a notebook or a monitor. Samsung’s Notebook 9 Pen is a 2-in-1 PC with an S Pen, so future models may also come with this new stylus.
If the future S Pen does come with a camera, Samsung can remove the punch hole which houses the camera for a truly bezel-less device.
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When will this be available commercially? We honestly cannot say. There is also a possibility that it may never see the light of day. So try not to get your hopes up.
