Smartphone manufacturers are trying a lot of solutions in order to get rid of bezels around the displays, so much that it is becoming hard to remember each of them. Vivo created the most interesting solution which allows getting rid of notches and other interruptions on the display while reaching a high screen-to-body ratio: the pop-up front camera which debuted on the Vivo NEX series. But the company is also testing other solutions, as a new patent suggests. The Chinese giant owned by BBK Electronics just patented two brand new smartphones designs.
The patent was filed mid-2018 at WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) and it was made public a few days ago, on May 14. The patent shows a comeback of the notch, but not as we know it. The attached images show the world’s first “reverse notches”. Both the smartphones shown in the images have notches, but they do not interrupt the display. Instead, they protrude out of the phones’ perimeter. In the first case, we are seeing a sort of half-moon protruding out of the phone on the upper part, which contains two front cameras and an earpiece in the middle.
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In the second case, there are two separate waterdrop-like notches and each of them includes one front camera. Judging from the overall design, the two devices seem to be either entry-level or midrange affordable smartphones. Besides the reverse notches, the two Vivo handsets also sport thicker bezels and a 3.5 mm audio jack. On the lower border, they only have one single grille for a mono speaker. On the back, there is a cutout for either a dual camera setup or a single camera paired with a LED flash. Currently, it is unknown whether or not these patents will ever become a reality.
(via)
