Vivo has had a pretty active year thus far. Close on the heels of launching its flagship Vivo X50 and the critically appreciated Vivo X50 Pro, the company launched Vivo Y20 and its twin the Y20i to the Indian market in the budget category. While the Vivo X50 series had our reviewers gushing about its photo quality, the company may have just gone ahead with a ploy to better it.
Just as we were getting ready to welcome the iQoo5 series from Vivo’s sub-brand, we are getting early reports that the company has received a patent for a smartphone equipped with a periscope zoom lens. Of course, Vivo had used similar lenses in its flagships such as the Vivo X30 Pro and the Vivo X50 Pro and Pro Plus.
However, the details around the patent filing, reported by LetsGoDigital indicates that the camera layout might not be similar to the Vivo X50 series cameras, but presented in a different fashion.
According to the diagrams filed by Vivo Mobile Communications and published on the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) after receiving due approvals, the camera layout resembles the older Vivo NEX 3 and NEX 35 looks. This could mean that the company may use the new designs in an upcoming device for the NEX series.
The sketches further suggest that the smartphone would have a full and flat screen with minimal bezels and a cutout at the top left corner for holding the front camera. In addition, we can see three keys related to volume controls and possibly the power button on the right side. There’s an additional switch that could work the sound.
The pictures also indicate a SIM card tray at the bottom with a USB Type-C port, as has been the norm for the past several months. The back of the smartphone shows a two-tone design with the upper part indicating a block comprising four lenses cut into a circle. This appears to include the main sensor, a periscope camera and two additional sensors.
The main camera may also be equipped with the unique gimbal system that was first used in the X50 Pro. By using two gim balls, the camera module is stabilized much better than with a regular OIS system. This improved image stabilization could be useful for high quality video recordings.
There is no word from the company about when it could be launching a new device with this latest technology. Also, it remains to be seen if Vivo actually re-introduces the NEX series in India.
(via) LetsGoDigital