Xiaomi has patented a new camera setup for smartphones, and this one is… well, odd. If you take a look at the provided images below, you’ll see a Xiaomi smartphone with an odd rotating camera setup.
This Xiaomi smartphone features a really odd & interesting rotating camera
That camera module is placed on the back of the device, and it seems like it’s spinning. This camera setup can rotate by 360 degrees, by the looks of it.
This patent has been applied for June 28, and it was published on June 23 2020. It was submitted with CNIPA in China. Now, based on the provided info, when you’re not using a front-facing camera, it will sit on the back of the phone, just like any other camera module.
When you’re ready to take selfies, and fire up the camera, it will rotate into position. Why? Well, because a front-facing camera is also located on that camera setup.
That front-facing camera is protected between the camera module and the back of the phone when not in use. When you need it, it will show its face.
This is a rather interesting solution by Xiaomi. This may allow the company to avoid including notches and display holes, and at the same time pop-up cameras as well.
Under-display camera technology did not arrive just yet, even though Visionox is ready to mass-produce its offering. So, Xiaomi is trying to find other ways to remove notches and display holes.
Including such a camera setup on a phone would allow Xiaomi to remove display notches & holes
Including one such rotating camera module may be one way of doing it. You’ll also notice that the sketch of a device itself shows a phone with no bezels, pretty much.
This is probably not an actual device, but just a sketch of a random phone with no bezels. A real device would come close to it, though, as this rotating camera technology would allow Xiaomi a lot of design freedom.
Do note that this is just a patent at this point, though. Xiaomi may never release a phone with such a rotating camera setup. It may, but many such patents never see the light of day.
We are eager to see the very first consumer smartphones with under-display cameras. Both OPPO and Xiaomi already demoed such units last year, but neither company is ready to release them just yet.
Visionox seems to have a solution for smartphone OEMs, and yet rumors are saying we won’t see such devices before 2021. We’re still hoping some will launch in 2020, though, but we’ll see.
