Smartphone makers are coming up with new designs to make their devices stand out from the crowd. While some designs are meant for better user experience, some are just concepts to showcase the company’s capabilities.

One of the most unique smartphone design was unveiled by Xiaomi last year in the form of the Mi MIX Alpha concept smartphone. Now, Huawei has also patented a smartphone design with a similar design of the wrap-around display, reports LetsGoDigital.

The phone showcased in the patent application seems similar to the Huawei Mate X but instead of being a foldable smartphone, it features a wrap-around display that extends from the front-side to the back.

However, unlike the front panel, the back of the phone is not entirely covered with the display. The display panel on the back accounts for 60-70 percent of the space while the remaining is used for the triple-camera setup.

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Huawei has been one of the leading smartphone brands when it comes to innovation. It was among the first to launch a commercial foldable smartphone and is reportedly working on its successor, which could go official this year.

But given the current situation of Huawei not being able to procure necessary components because of the U.S. sanctions, it remains to be seen if the Chinese giant actually plans to start working on this wrap-around display smartphone.

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Smartphone manufacturers keep working on new designs to make their devices stand out from the crowd and offer something unique to the users. With people wanting bezel-less phones, companies come up with several different designs, including pop-up cameras and under-display cameras to increase the screen-to-body ratio.

The technology of the under-display camera has been in the works for quite some time. ZTE recently launched the Axon 20 5G as the world’s first smartphone to have an in-display camera sensor and other brands are expected to follow the suit next year.

Amid this, companies keep working on new design ideas. In line with this, China-based Xiaomi has filed a patent application for a smartphone design that includes two pop-up cameras aimed to work as both rear and front-facing snapper, reports LetsGoDigital.

The concept images attached to the patent application showcases a flat-screen smartphone with very narrow bezels. There are no camera sensors visible on the front panel or on the backside of the device. Instead, the company has opted for a pop-up mechanism for housing camera sensors.

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Both the camera sensors pop-up at an angle, similar to what we’ve seen on OPPO‘s Shark-Fin camera. Since there are sensors on both sides of the pop-up mechanism, the phone packs four camera lenses in total — two at the front and two on the back.

The LED flash has been placed towards the top of the smartphone on the backside, right below the area from where the camera sensors pop-up. The phone also has stereo speakers and a USB-C port at the bottom.

Xiaomi already has a few smartphones using a pop-up mechanism for the front-facing camera under its Mi as well as the Redmi lineup. It will be interesting to see if the company actually goes ahead and launches a phone with a dual pop-up mechanism for the front as well as the back camera module.

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Many smartphone makers have introduced their foldable smartphones in the past year, including Samsung Galaxy Fold, Huawei Mate X, and Motorola RAZR. However, LG has not yet revealed anything officially regarding the launch of a similar phone from the company.

Instead of launching a smartphone with a foldable display, the company introduced LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen which comes with a detachable dual display design. While the company has confirmed the development of a foldable phone and has even patent a few phones with a similar design, nothing has materialised so far.

After patenting smartphone with a pull-out display and roll-up display, LG has now patented a new smartphone design which features a wrap-around display. This seems similar to the Mi MIX Alpha but with flexible display and more screen-to-body ratio.

The patent for the wrap-around display smartphone from LG also includes several images, which showcase that apart from a thick frame border at the top, there are very thin borders on the bottom, left and right side.

The top bezel holds dual camera sensors along with an LED flash. While there’s no border on the right side, the screen continues towards that side and wraps-around the back panel. Interestingly, there will be no rear-facing cameras given that the display extends all the way to the back panel. Instead, it seems that the front-facing sensors would double up as the rear cameras.

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From the documentation, it is not yet clear how the display is being held in place but its likely because of some magnetic mechanism. It is also possible to remove the extending flexible screen from the housing by pressing a button.

When the device is closed, there are two displays on the device — one on the front side and the other at the back. Once the device is opened, the phone turns into a tablet with a bigger display. The speaker grille is visible on the top as well as bottom, along with a microphone. There’s a microUSB port and a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom and a power button at the top side.

Mobile World Congress 2020 is scheduled to kick-off in Barcelona, Spain next month and Samsung and Huawei will be introducing their second-generation foldable devices — Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and Huawei Mate Xs. It remains to be seen if LG takes the stage to introduce experimental smartphones at the MWC 2020.

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(Source)

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Most smartphone manufacturers aim to offer a full-screen smartphone without any kind of notches on top of the display. To achieve this, companies experimented with various designs, including a rotating camera, pop-up camera, and a flip camera.

Some smartphone makers decided to put a secondary display on the phone’s back panel so that the main camera setup on the back of the phone can be used as a front-facing camera as well. Examples of such phones include Vivo NEX Dual Display and ZTE’s Nubia X.

Now, it seems that after experimenting with a rotating camera with the Samsung Galaxy A80, the company is now planning to launch a new Galaxy A-series smartphone having dual displays. The South Korean giant has patented a new smartphone design that has two display panels.

A patent for the Samsung Galaxy smartphone with a secondary display on the back was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the WIPO World Intellectual Property Office.

The images attached with the patent shows that the phone has a full-screen display on the front side that covers most of the phone’s front side. Also, there’s no front-facing camera. On the back side, there’s a secondary display which is about half the size of the primary display on the front side.

The half-sized secondary display is placed on the top part of the back panel, allowing users to hold the smartphone as they normally do, without causing any kinds of fingerprint marks and smudges. From the size of the display, it seems that the primary aim is to allow users to take selfies. And given that it’s just a patent filing, no description about this has been provided by the company.

Further, the patent reveals that when the front or the rear display is not in use, it can be turned off automatically to save the battery capacity. The display can then be turned on again when any activity takes place, for instance, a touch input.

Samsung has been experimenting a lot with the newly revamped Galaxy A series and thus, it’s more likely that the smartphone with the dual display design could get launched as a part of the Samsung Galaxy A lineup.

(Source)

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Meizu, the China-based company which is all set to launch its Meizu 16s smartphone in its home country in the coming days, is reportedly working on a smartphone with a pop-up front-facing camera design.

The company has applied for a patent design to the China Intellectual Property Office in which the smartphone is carrying a pop-up mechanism that houses the front-facing camera. The patent describes the usage of a few components for this mechanism, including a cover, camera, middle frame, and a motor.

While this design is not unique, but its good to see that Meizu is also planning to jump on the experimental smartphones bandwagon and start working on a smartphone with a pop-up front-facing camera.

Vivo was the first smartphone company to come up with such a design with its Vivo Apex smartphone, aiming to offer a higher screen-to-body ratio. Later, the phone was launched commercially as the Vivo NEX.

Recently, Oppo and Vivo both launched their premium mid-range smartphone with a pop-up camera design — Oppo F11 Pro and Vivo V15 Pro. Next month, OnePlus is also expected to launch the OnePlus 7 Pro with similar pop-up camera mechanism.

However, the patent design does not mean that it’s final that the company will actually launch a smartphone with such a design. It’s just an indication that the company is exploring the idea of a smartphone with pop-up camera design.

Read More: Meizu 16s confirmed to come with 48 MP primary camera sensor, OIS, and anti-shake feature

Meanwhile, Meizu is currently gearing up to launch its Meizu 16s smartphone on 23rd April in China. Today, the company confirmed that the smartphone will come with a 48 MP primary sensor in the triple camera module with OIS and anti-shaking support.

(Via)

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