Xiaomi patents a unique smartphone with a flexible screen that can be moved down through voice control to display the front Selfie camera.
Η Xiaomi manages to introduce us to innovative Smartphones at regular intervals. The Mi Mix Alpha with its Surround screen, it was undoubtedly the most impressive and innovative device presented by the company.
The Dual folding Smartphone which he presented later also made a great impression. Xiaomi seems to like experimenting with implementing a flexible display on its next devices and creating new features, which imply a completely different user experience.
This time Xiaomi is exploring the possibility of developing a smartphone with a flexible screen, which will work through a sliding mechanism that will also hide the Selfie camera.
New Xiaomi Smartphone with sliding (Rollable) screen
Her department Xiaomi mobile based in Beijing, has filed a new patent application for a "electronic device», Which was published by WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) and USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) at October 29 2020. This application concerns a new Xiaomi smartphone with a large foldable sliding screen. The screen covers the entire front of the device up to the bottom and a large part of the back. This gives the smartphone a unique and elegant look.
The entire front of the Xiaomi patented smartphone consists of essentially a large screen surface. The edges (Bezel) of the screen are very small and at first glance, there is no visible Selfie camera or sensor.
However, through a special sliding mechanism, the flexible screen can slide 2 cm down from the front of the device, and with the expansion of the sliding screen, the system of the front Selfie camera becomes more visible. At the same time, the device grows at the bottom to provide the space that the flexible screen needs.
To make this possible, the screen is mounted on a special arm, which moves over a sliding rail. This special sliding system is located in the lower half of the body of the device and allows the flexible screen to move whenever the Selfie camera needs to be opened.
To illustrate Xiaomi's new patented technology, the graphic designer Sarang sheth , in collaboration with LetsGoDigital, designed a series of Renders of the device based on the patent filed by Xiaomi. THE Nest is the editor in chief Yanko Design , a respected online magazine focusing primarily on modern, industrial design. In the 3D images (Render) we see, the Xiaomi patented smartphone is visible both in its most compact form and in the extended position.
The sliding mechanism will also work with voice command
The sliding mechanism can work in different ways. The user can touch the screen and the flexible screen will start moving in the desired direction. In addition, the slide mechanism can be activated with voice commands, as mentioned in the extensive documentation.
Once the screen is expanded, the Selfie camera system becomes visible. Along with the Slefie camera, the same module integrates the ambient light sensor, the proximity sensor and the dot projector.
The screen is held in place by two (electro) magnets, so that it can not move unintentionally. The placement of the magnets ensures that the screen can be opened and closed automatically up to a certain point.
Mi Mix smartphone with a second screen on the back
The screen that extends to the back of the device is much smaller in size than the front screen. This leaves enough space at the top to mount the Module on which the device with the main camera system will be mounted. What we see in the XNUMXD Render is a quad-camera, similar to its own Mi 10T ProHowever, Xiaomi may use a different camera system for the device.
Because there is a large screen area on the back of the device, it is theoretically not necessary to use the front Selfie camera and you will also be able to take selfies with the main camera, with the screen on the back of the device acting as a viewfinder. The technology that Xiaomi applies to this particular device seems to be quite a complex and expensive solution. In addition, a special screen sliding system will require a lot of space in an already so compact body of the device.
However it is still a distinct innovation and can be considered as a developed variant of Xiaomi Mi Mix 3. It Mi Mix 3 as you will remember it was also equipped with a magnetic sliding mechanism, behind which hides the front camera, but in that model there was no flexible screen, and the two separate parts of the phone just slid on top of each other.
At present, little is known about his successor Mi Mix 3 (5G) released in 2018/2019. Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 is expected to be announced later this year and will undoubtedly be another innovative Xiaomi device that will impress us, but its specifications are not yet known.
The Mi Mix 4 may be the first Xiaomi smartphone in which the selfie camera will be placed below the screen (UDC camera). In mid-2020, the company announced that it was working on 3rd generation UDC camera technology. Mass production is expected to begin in the second half of 2021.
The patent also describes a second variant of the device. This time the flexible screen can not be moved down, but to the right. A vertical camera system was chosen for this device, and it seems to be a variation of it Mi Mix Alpha. In this case, the screen continues to expand on the right side of the body and covers about Present in several = 75% of the back.
The fact that the company has submitted two different design variants for the same device using similar technology, is something that the company is used to. The same happened for example with Rollable SXiaomi martphone we mentioned earlier this month.
It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. But if that's the case, it's certain that this device will be installed in turn Mi Mix. We definitely expect to see many innovative products from Xiaomi this year as well. For example, the company is reportedly preparing to launch at least 3 foldable Smartphones in 2021.
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