Smartphone manufacturers are currently in the race of offering a device with the highest screen-to-body ratio. Apart from minimizing the bezels, companies are now coming up with solutions like notched display and pop-up mechanism for housing the camera.

Now, a parent of Xiaomi’s smartphone has been published online, which shows that the company will house the dual front-facing camera sensors inside a notch that’s placed at the bottom of the display.

This is not the first time Xiaomi is experimenting with the placement of the front-facing camera sensor. The Xiaomi Mi MIX smartphone, which was claimed to be a bezel-less phone, also housed the selfie camera at the bottom. However, it was not placed inside a notch, which is the case with this patent.

With such design changes, one question that arises is the usage of the phone. Having camera sensors at the bottom changes the composition of the selfies or video calling and the users will have to hold the device a bit higher than usual for it to look more natural.

Another patent shows two front-facing cameras at the bottom of the front panel but instead of having both sensors together in the middle, each sensor is placed at each corner at the bottom, inside the notch.

Coming to the back panel, it remains the same in both designs, featuring a dual rear camera setup with camera sensors stacked vertically in the top-left corner. It’s not yet clear if the phone will be a part of Xiaomi, Redmi, or Poco lineup.

Read More: Xiaomi’s first car partnership comes in the way of a customized Bestune T77 SUV

While this unique design will make Xiaomi’s smartphone stand out from the crowd, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see a smartphone with such design anytime soon. Many times the patents are just for the experiment and not all the devices that get patented makes it to the commercial stage.

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After showcasing its ‘Apex’ smartphone last year, Vivo — the China-based smartphone manufacturer, is now all set to showcase its successor — Vivo Apex 2019. The company has already scheduled a launch event on 24th January in China where it’ll unveil the Apex 2019.

While there’s a lot of buzz related to the phone’s design, no live leaks of the device have surfaced so far. However, Ben Geskin has shared the phone’s concept render through Twitter, which reveals the phone’s design.

The concept render of the smartphone shows its bezel-less display. While the bezels are minimal on the sides and top, it still has a slightly thicker chin at the bottom. Nonetheless, it could be the phone with the highest screen-to-body ratio.

On the back side, the device features a dual-camera setup in the top-center position. The camera sensors are stacked vertically along with an LED flash. At the bottom, there’s a Vivo branding. As per the reports, the phone won’t come with any ports or buttons.

The no-buttons and no-ports design suggest that the phone will support wireless charging as well as wireless data transfer and the users will have to rely on the gesture-based and pressure-sensitive navigation system. The phone will come with an advanced in-display fingerprint sensor with a larger area and improved sensor for security.

Last year’s Apex smartphone had a unique pop-up front-facing camera, making the phone stand apart from the rest. However, it’s not yet known what Vivo has adopted for the Apex 2019 smartphone for the front-facing camera.

As for the memory configuration, the phone could come with 8GB RAM but there’s a possibility that the company could also announce 10GB RAM or 12GB RAM variant as well. We are expecting the device to be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor manufactured using 7nm process.

Read More: Vivo NEX Dual Display DeMarcus Cousin Limited Edition teased by the company

As said, the Vivo Apex 2019 is scheduled to get launched in China on 24th January. While the company has not yet confirmed this, we are expecting the Chinese company to showcase the Vivo Apex 2019 smartphone at the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, Spain which will kick-off on 25th February.

(Source)

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Vivo had showcased its Vivo Apex concept smartphone with a full-screen display at Mobile World Congress (MWC) last year, which had around 98 percent screen-to-body ratio. The company later launched its Vivo NEX and most recently Vivo NEX Dual experimental smartphones.

Now, the Chinese company is all set to launch yet another experimental smartphone — Vivo Apex 2019. The company teased the launch of a new smartphone on 24th January in China and now the poster shared by the company confirms that the device launching on January 24th is indeed the Vivo Apex 2019.

The caption on the image roughly translates to: “A year ago, Vivo APEX portrayed a new world of full screens. A year later, #vivo APEX 2019# evolved again, using technology to wake up to the future. See you on January 24.”

According to the reports, the smartphone is codenamed “The Waterdrop” and is revealed to come with a curved design without any kind of notches, bezels or physical buttons. The phone could come with pressure-sensitive and gesture-based navigation. As for the memory configuration, the phone could come with 8GB RAM but there’s a possibility that the company could also announce 10GB RAM or 12GB RAM variant as well.

Further, the smartphone is also expected to come with sixth-generation in-display fingerprint sensor with a larger area and improved sensor, similar to what Xiaomi and Oppo unveiled earlier this week. We are expecting the device to be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor manufactured using 7nm process.

While the company has not yet confirmed this, we are expecting the Chinese company to showcase the Vivo Apex 2019 smartphone at the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, Spain which will kick-off on 25th February.

• Read More: Vivo V11 Pro smartphone’s successor to reportedly launch in India next month

For Vivo Apex showcased last year, the company had adopted pop-up front-facing camera design for bezel-less display. To see what the company has adopted this time to offer higher screen-to-body ratio, we’ll have to wait until 24th January when Vivo officially announces the smartphone.

(Source)

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Samsung, which has been focusing on making a flexible smartphone for the past couple of years, seems to have moved on to working on another smartphone design. The company had filed a patent with the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) in June 2018 which was published earlier this month, giving us details about the company’s plans.

The company’s patent describes a unique smartphone design through which smartphones can be magnetically connected with each other. While it is not a foldable smartphone nor does it use a foldable display, the functionality is quite similar.

The patent shows two smartphones, both having their own housing and internal components, and both can function independently of each other. However, the phones have three magnets, which creates numerous possibilities to use the devices by connecting each other.

There’s a cylindrical magnet placed over the entire longitudinal axis of the phone, which allows connecting two smartphones side by side, giving double-sized display surface. The devices can also be connected on the backsides. With such a setup, users can use the main camera as a selfie camera, while the second housing can act as a viewfinder display. It has a lot of possibilities and the content can also be adjusted based on the setup.

Meanwhile, the company is yet to launch its flexible smartphone. While the company has already demonstrated the phone during the Samsung Developers Conference last month, it is yet to officially unveil the phone. There were reports suggesting that the company could showcase the phone at CES 2019 but we are yet to hear anything even though the CES has already started.

Read More: Samsung Notebook 9 Pro high-end 2-in-1 convertible with stylish design announced at CES 2019

While it seems to be a long wait until we can use such experimental smartphones, Samsung is currently gearing up to launch its next-generation Galaxy S-series smartphones. As per the reports, the Galaxy S10 will be launched on 20th February, a week ahead of Mobile World Congress (MWC 2019) in Barcelona, Spain next month.

(Via)

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