Lately, smartphone OEMs have been
launching devices with periscope lenses to offer lossless zoom functionality.
HUAWEI P30 Pro from early 2019 is known to popularize it. A little over a year
now, we can find this type of zoom lens even on mid-range handsets like Mi 10
Youth and realme X3 SuperZoom. On the other hand, vivo has been using it on its
upper mid-range devices like vivo X30 Pro and vivo X50 Pro/Pro+. Now, it
patents another smartphone design with a periscope lens.
This patent was filed by vivo Mobile
Communications to the CNIPA (China National Intellectual Property
Administration) on April 24. It got published after is approval on August 28.
As usual, LetsGoDigital was first to unearth it. According to the design
sketches, this smartphone features a full-screen flat display with minimum
bezels and a punch-hole camera at the top left corner. Further, the structure
of this phone is boxy with curved corners.
It houses a total of three keys on its
right side – volume rockers, power button, and a slider switch. Whereas, its
bottom side includes the SIM compartment and USB Type-C port. None of the
sketches showcases the handset’s side, hence we can consider it to be black
except for maybe a secondary microphone.
Talking about this vivo smartphone’s back,
it sports a dual-tone finish separating exactly a the center. The top part
houses a circular quad-camera setup, which includes a large primary sensor, a
periscope camera, and two more sensors. This camera arrangement is unlike the
one found on X50 series. It resembles that of vivo NEX 3/NEX 3S. Hence, if the
company ever plans to use this patented design, it will probably launch as a
NEX series phone.