Foldables are said to the future of smartphones. But apart from Samsung and Lenovo-owned Motorola, no other handset makers have released such devices yet. But they are reported to do so this year. Hence, we have been seeing multiple patents regarding foldable smartphones in the past few months like this new vivo one.
According to LetsGoDigital, Vivo Mobile Communications filed a design patent with the CNIPA (China National Intellectual Property Administration) at the end of August 2020. This patent got approved and published on February 12, 2021.
Going by the sketches, this vivo foldable smartphone design is unlike any other. Normally, foldable smartphones either fold out to become a tablet or they feature old-school clamshell. But this design patent by vivo is neither.
EDITOR’S PICK: Vivo V2055A appears on Google Play Console listing, might debut as iQOO Neo5 in mid-March
This foldable phone design by vivo sports a rather unusual long display panel that folds at the bottom. Hence, it looks like a normal handset in the folded state. However, in the unfolded mode, the screen is elongated and it looks weird.
Further, the back of the device houses a penta-camera setup, which also includes a periscope zoom unit and a unique LED flash module. Interestingly, the design only has a single physical key at the top (could be the power button) and there are no ports as well. Hence, this phone may charge wirelessly.
With that being said, the only benefit we can realize from this vivo foldable smartphone design patent is that it is slimmer than commercially available foldables in the market. Additionally, its screen can be useful for vloggers as a viewfinder for the five cameras.
Anyway, we don’t expect vivo to launch any handset with this design anytime soon.
RELATED:
- Apple to launch relatively affordable clamshell foldable iPhone in the future
- Stretchable display will be harder to develop than foldable or rollable panels
- Xiaomi patents a foldable smartphone solution to mitigate creases
