The Chinese intellectual property organisation published a patent by Xiaomi on a new smartphone design that was submitted back in 2019. First obtained by LetsGoDigital, the patent drawings reveal a foldable phone design quite similar to the Huawei Mate X foldable phone.
The patent shows a display that folds outwards and comes with a bar on the side which houses the cameras. The bar is the thickest part of the design and shows four-camera cutouts. The design doesn’t show a cutout for a selfie camera, so we’re guessing the quad-camera setup will be used for selfies. There’s a charging port at the bottom.
When folded, the screen wraps around the front and back with thin bezels and when open, the screen becomes a large tablet, leaving the camera pointed to the back. When folded, the larger part of the display becomes the front fascia.
The design is quite similar to the Huawei Mate X which launched globally at $2700 (roughly Rs 2 lakh) but never saw the light of the day in India. We did get an eyes-on at the foldable phone last year which you can check out in the video embedded in the article.
Now, just because a patent is published, doesn’t mean a smartphone is on its way. What it does mean, however, is that Xiaomi now has the capability to make one. Notably, the company had launched the Mi Mix Alpha last year that came with a wraparound display, much like how this patent shows when the phone is folded, but it couldn’t be unfolded.
Xiaomi has also teased a double-folding foldable smartphone quite a few times last year, and the company co-founder Lin Bin was even spotted using a prototype. But the company is yet to launch a device officially in the market that can fold. Perhaps, 2020 is the year when it is finally ready with a foldable smartphone for the masses.