Image credit – LetsGoDigital
If there is a trend that we’re starting to see emerge this year it would be that smartphones are going to start using hole-in displays. This is the “answer” to the notch design which some feel is quite ugly, and the hole-in display is meant to be a neater solution. For the most part it is where the front-facing camera will be housed, but could it be used for more than just that?
That’s what the folks at LetsGoDigital seem to think as they have discovered a patent filed by OPPO in which the company is exploring potential uses of such a design. One of those uses is by having the camera’s app placed “below” the hole in which the hole becomes less obvious and is a good indicator of where the camera app is.
It can also be used to house other apps where if u swipe on it, other apps can appear but the camera app remains in place, so you can use it to hide other apps while maintaining the camera app handy. As LetsGoDigital points out, OPPO wouldn’t be the first company to try and explore other potential uses for the hole. Samsung has also explored some ideas in the past by creating an animation around it.
We’re not sure if the Galaxy S10 will feature something similar, so we’ll have to wait and see. As for OPPO’s own phones, it’s hard to tell if this patent will be made a reality. The company does have a 10x zoom smartphone in the works so maybe there’s a chance we could see it materialize there.