The smartphone industry is consistently evolving and the race to get a true full-screen device is heating up. We’ve have seen all sorts of designs aimed at improving the screen ratio of smartphones. It all started with a notch, then waterdrop design, pop-up camera, periscope structure, sliding design, and most recently, the punch-hole design. Some months ago, Oppo and Xiaomi showcased their “invisible” selfie camera solutions in short videos. Recently, Xiaomi got a patent from CNIPA for a dual “invisible” front camera. Now, ZTE has a patent for a stylish punch-hole camera. The positioning of this camera is unique.
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In April this year, ZTE Corporation applied for a patent with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) for a ‘Display panel, camera device, terminal and screen manufacturing method’. The patent describes a ZTE phone with a very small punch-hole camera. To make the camera stand out, ZTE will integrate the selfie camera with the basic icons at the top of the display. By placing the front camera between these icons, you hardly notice that there is a camera.
The battery indicator is at the far right and we have the camera next to it. Extra icons including the network, WiFi etc towards the left of the camera. The screen will also have a ‘sound wave transmission area’, according to the patent description. In practice, this means that the speaker, receiver and / or the microphone will be placed under the display. Smartphones with Sound-on-Display technology include LG G8 ThinQ, which was introduced at the beginning of this year. However, this technology is new to ZTE.
This will likely be a lot cheaper than underscreen camera. I’d buy this one if it shaves off a hundred dollar or so.