Smartphones come with minimal bezels these days. Hence, the front-facing camera is either placed in a notch or a punch-hole. Future phones are even expected to come with an under-display camera. But OnePlus had recently patented a smartphone design with a long-forgotten selfie camera solution.

OnePlus Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd. filed a patent with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) in mid-2020 titled ‘display apparatus’. This patent got approved and published on February 4, 2021. 

As usual, it was first spotted by LetsGoDigital and the publication even created a beautiful render for it based on the design of the upcoming OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro.

According to the patent documentation, this smartphone design includes the front-facing camera in the top thin bezel. Hence, users will not be distracted like on phones with notch and punch hole.

Also, the patent’s paperwork notes that this solution is inexpensive than digging a hole in the display panel. Because the production costs are low, while the yield and reliability are high. Hence, it could be a better alternative to not only notches and punch holes but also under-display tech.

As of now, we cannot say for sure whether OnePlus will be releasing a smartphone with this type of selfie camera placement. But there’s a possibility as in-screen camera solutions have their own set of pros and cons, in addition to being expensive.

Last but not least, it is worth noting that Meizu had already used a similar design for Meizu 16s Pro and Meizu 16T. However, the bezels were slightly thicker than this design patent.

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