An interesting tidbit has surfaced as we wait for companies to solve the puzzle of a truly bezel-less phone. While Vivo’s Apex may have turned heads at MWC, a patent filing from 2016 shows that a pop-up front facing camera was already imagined by Essential.
The patent, which was granted to the company last year, is pretty much similar to what we have seen on Vivo’s concept phone. The only difference between the two is the placement of the camera. The Apex ejects the camera on the left side of the phone while Essential’s patent is on the right.
Essential’s patent also shows a different design being used. One that places the front camera at the top left corner of the screen. This implementation seems to have the camera inside of the screen on the notification bar. Android Police states that the camera will also act as a permanent camera button.
The news regarding this patent started to gain attention when a Twitter user mentioned Andy Rubin- who is the co-founder of Essential, in his tweet regarding the Vivo Apex phone. Andy Rubin then tweeted a link to the patent that it had filed previously.
@essential @Arubin You seen this? https://t.co/upYBvmYuPC
Keep the notch please.— Rafael Villar (@RitterRav) March 2, 2018
It should be noted that the patents don’t necessarily mean that the company will use it for its future products. So, don’t expect the next phone by Essential to have a pop-up front facing camera.
(Source: Google Patents via Android Headlines)
