Smartphone notch gained wild popularity in 2017 after the release of the iPhone X. Since then, we have seen various phone display designs with the notch adopting various dimensions, the most common being the waterdrop design. But nothing prepared us for the notch design Xiaomi has just reportedly patented, a smartphone with an awkward inverted notch design.

The sketch released shows the notch is designed in such a way that it extends upwards from the phone just like a centrally placed dual pop-up camera or better still, like an inverted notch. The inverted notch houses the in-ear speaker and dual front camera setup. We can’t fathom exactly why Xiaomi would want to design such a phone but it could be an easy way of trimming the bezels around the display. However, the design doesn’t look like one that will catch on like wildfire more especially as it alters the symmetrical design phones have always maintained. But then, you never know. We may likely not find it anytime soon, though, as patent applications don’t really indicate what a company is planning on the short term.

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Xiaomi also filed a patent for a slider design with triple selfie camera sensors. The design looks exactly like that of the Mi Mix 3 except for the triple cameras.

(via)