On Christmas Day 2020, we reported that OPPO had patented a rollable smartphone concept design in collaboration with Tom Ford, a popular American fashion designer and filmmaker. Now, a couple of months later, it turns out that the Chinese tech company has actually infringed the intellectual property of Tom Ford.

LetsGoDigital was the first to spot this patent. As per the publication, Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications filed this concept design patent with the CNIPA (China National Intellectual Property Administration) on February 24, 2020. This means the company filed the patent two weeks after the announcement of Galaxy Z Flip Thom Browne Edition.

A few days after LetsGoDigital’s article went live, Tom Ford International LLC filed a claim with the publication to take down all the images. The fashion firm issued the following statement.

“There is no collaboration between Tom Ford and OPPO. There is no such product being developed. In addition, the images include improper and misleading use of the TOM FORD trademark.”

Interestingly, even OPPO gave a similar statement.

“We can confirm that there is no collaboration between OPPO and Tom Ford.”

This begs the question, Why did then OPPO use the ‘TOM FORD’ trademark? Our guess is that the company might have gone ahead and patented the design even before initiating the talks on partnership. The firm might have considered this decision seeing the popularity of Samsung’s collaboration with Thom Browne.

Additionally, the images in the patent documentation also use iPhone 11’s official wallpaper with minute changes in colors. This was yet another red flag in the patent and we wonder why OPPO decided to submit a patent with both Apple and Tom Ford’s intellectual properties.

What are your thoughts on OPPO infringing Tom Ford’s intellectual property? Do let us know in the comment section below.

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OPPO has been patenting interesting smartphone designs lately. One such weird patent we saw back in November showed a Block structure for foldables. Now, its new Patent makes a second screen within the rear Camera layout possible.

The patent, filed by OPPO Guangdong Mobile Communications Co., Ltd at CNIPA(China National Intellectual Property Administration) has been published on February 19. The patent shows a design just another Smartphone design upfront until you turn it over to the back.

As you can see below, the rear has a circular camera layout with cut-outs for lenses and a small hole likely an LED flash. Inside the layout, there’s another circular layout. OPPO intends to use this as a small Secondary display. In the patent, it has shown a colored render with use-case scenarios.

For instance, the small display can quickly serve for showing Time, Date as shown in the design. And there is always a possibility that the company could expand this by showing Quick Notifications, Fitness Data, and more.

Also, upfront, there is no Selfie camera present. This might make you wonder if OPPO intends to use the secondary display(as a viewfinder) so people can take selfies using the rear camera. However, we aren’t sure about it as it is smaller in Size.

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Anyway, the rest of the design isn’t that different. We have a curved display at the front, an USB-C, SIM card slot, Speaker, a primary mic at the bottom, and a secondary mic up top.  Apart from the circular design, OPPO also has a sketch of a square-shaped rear layout with rounded edges.

As with every other patent, we aren’t sure if it would make it to the final design.

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• OPPO patents a smartphone design with circular pop-up camera module and 15x hybrid zoom

The post OPPO patents a Smartphone design having a Secondary display within the rear Camera layout appeared first on Gizmochina.

Lately, OPPO has been filing patents for a wide variety of smartphone designs. It even showcased the world’s first rollable concept smartphone last month in the form of OPPO X 2021. Now, a new design patent by the company imagines a smartphone with a detachable camera module.

This patent was filed by Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). We are not sure who found it first but 91Mobiles did not mention the filing and publication times of this patent.

Talking about the design, the phone used in the sketches seem to be generic with no notch or punch-hole on the front. Perhaps, it may have an under-display camera. But then again, there are no physical buttons or ports as well. Hence, we believe that it is indeed for illustration only.

EDITOR’S PICK: OPPO patents Unique Foldable Smartphone designs with a weird Block structure

Anyway, the main aspect of this patent is the detachable camera module located at the back. This module houses a dual-camera setup along with an LED flash and it connects with the phone via USB Type-C.

The connector port on this module can be adjusted up to 90° and therefore, the rear camera setup can also be used for selfies and video calls. In other words, it is similar to ASUS Zenfone 6 and Zenfone 7/7Pro but the camera module can be detached as well as replaced with a different supported module with another set of cameras.

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Having said that, we don’t expect OPPO to release a commercial smartphone with this design. Because many others have tried modularity on mobile phones and have failed terribly.

UP NEXT: OPPO patents a smartphone design with circular pop-up camera module and 15x hybrid zoom

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With Huawei’s smartphone market share dropping, Xiaomi and OPPO came out as the beneficiaries in the third quarter of 2020 in Western Europe, as per IDC. The former has had a presence in these regions for a while now. But the latter has now begun to take advantage of Huawei’s situation. In order to excel, OPPO has also been filing various patents in the past few months. One such new smartphone design patent with a 15x zoom camera has emerged.

Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications filed this new smartphone design patent in July 2020. It got approved and published last month on November 6. As usual, LetsGoDigital was the first to find it and the publication even teamed up with Concept Creator (Jermaine Smit) for 3D renders.

According to the patent documents, this OPPO smartphone design includes a curved display on the front with a centered punch-hole. In case you do not know, for some unknown reason, only Samsung has released OLED smartphones with centered punch-hole so far. 

EDITOR’S PICK: OPPO patents Unique Foldable Smartphone designs with a weird Block structure

But recently, Fujitsu Arrows NX9 F-52A became the first non-Samsung with such a display. However, this device will be limited to Japan and will only go on sale in late January. Hence, we think that this exclusivity has now ended and we may see more consumer-ready handsets as well as design patents with centered punch-hole OLED display in the future.

Coming back to the patent, the back of the handset houses a horizontally aligned triple camera setup. The original sketches do not have any text, but the 3D renders by Jermaine include ‘15X ZOOM’ lettering below the LED flash since this phone supports up to 15x hybrid zoom, as per documents.

If this sounds similar, then you aren’t alone. That’s because OPPO filed a similar smartphone design patent but with a circular pop-up camera module instead of a punch-hole. In other words, the placement of the selfie camera is the only major difference between these two designs.

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Last but not least, the handset has a power key on the right side, volume buttons on the left side,  and a USB Type-C port at the bottom along with a speaker grille and a primary microphone. Concept Creator has included a 3.5mm headphone jack for fun, but do note that the original sketches do not have it.

Having said, unlike the design patent with a circular pop-up camera module, this one can be easily implemented without much complexity. Hence, OPPO can bring this design to the market if the company wants to.

UP NEXT: Oppo X 2021 unveiled as the world’s first smartphone concept with an extending display

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Update – November 16

In the original story, we were skeptical regarding the presence of a periscope camera. Because the design sketches showed all the rear camera sensors in a circular shape.

But now, we can confirm the third sensor on the right side to feature a periscope lens. All thanks to the folks at LetsGoDigital who were kind enough to clarify the patent document to us.

Original Story – November 16

OPPO is gearing up for tomorrow’s OPPO INNO DAY 2020 conference. Ahead of it, a smartphone design patent by the company has emerged. This design includes a circular pop-up selfie camera module and a 15x hybrid zoom camera module.

Recently, LetsGoDigital, a publication known for patent and trademark-related coverage has been posting stories on OPPO, probably in partnership with the company ahead of its biggest conferences of the year. 

Late last week, the publication posted a story on OPPO smartphone design with an extendable display. Now, today, the company itself confirmed that it will be showcasing a similar device at the event tomorrow.

A few hours later, LetsGoDigital has published another OPPO smartphone design patent story. Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications filed this patent in April but it got approved and published on November 12.

EDITOR’S PICK: OPPO patents Unique Foldable Smartphone designs with a weird Block structure

As mentioned in the beginning, this design features a single circular pop-up selfie camera module. That’s not all, it also houses a triple camera setup on the back with 15x hybrid zoom capability. 

But interestingly, none of the three cameras seems to feature a periscope lens as all of them are circular in shape. However, the renders created by Concept Creator shows a square-shaped module. Additionally, the design also features a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is no longer found in modern premium smartphones.

Further, unlike any other OPPO phone, the camera setup in this design is placed horizontally on the rear panel like on the Galaxy S10 series and Meizu 17 series. 

Anyway, we are not sure if the company will ever launch a commercial smartphone with this design. But the company may use the 15x hybrid camera system in a future device. In fact, it may even showcase it at tomorrow’s event.

UP NEXT: OPPO patents a smartphone design akin to OnePlus 7T but with under-display camera

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OPPO is one of the popular Chinese smartphone markers. It is a well-known brand in Asia. Lately, the company has been slowly expanding into markets like Europe to fill the void left by HUAWEI. The firm is known for selling both budget as well as high-end devices. It has now patented a smartphone design with an under-display camera and circular camera window.

Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications filed this smartphone design patent with the CNIPA (China National Intellectual Property Office) at the end of 2019. However, it got approved and published only on October 23, 2020. As always, the patent was unearthed by LetsGoDigital.

At first sight, one can easily mistake the rear design to be of OnePlus 7T. The only difference between the two is that the patented design has an extra camera at the top. The design can be also compared with that of OPPO ACE2, however, the layout of the sensors is not identical on the latter phone though it has the same circular camera window.

EDITOR’S PICK: OPPO patents the design of realme X50 Pro with its own branding

That said, apart from the back design, the patent differs in terms of front design. Because it sports a curved screen with an under-display camera. Whereas, the OnePlus 7T and OPPO ACE2 feature flat panels with a dew-drop notch and a punch-hole respectively. Anyway, OPPO also patented the same design with a punch-hole too.

Interestingly, LetsGoDigital mentions the design to feature a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom. But the hole looks so tiny for that and therefore, we are skeptical regarding this claim. It could be the secondary mic as the top of the handset is plain.

Last but not least, the bottom of the phone also houses a USB Type-C port and SIM card slot, whereas the left and the right side of the device sports volume rockers and power button respectively.

UP NEXT: OPPO files a utility patent for clamshell foldable smartphone hinge

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