Xiaomi launches a new patent with a smartphone with an ‘invisible’ and rotating camera

Xiaomi It has already shown that the fame that accompanied it years ago that it copied everything that came to the market by other brands was left behind. For a while now has decided to lead the way in some of the most important mobile segments that will arrive soon.

But there is another unexplored territory that the Chinese want to travel and that has been known thanks to several patents that they have registered with the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), which have to do with a device that will not have a visible camera.

The Chinese company has launched both interesting inexpensive phones and advanced high-end models. But earlier this year the company also showed off an interesting concept phone with a quadruple curved screen and a camera under the screen.

Xiaomi smartphone with rotating camera under the screen

In February 2020, Bejing Xiaomi Mobile Software filed a patent with WIPO for a “terminal device”. The 32-page documentation was published on April 29, 2021 and describes in detail how the company plans integrate an internal rotating camera into a smartphone.

The Xiaomi patented smartphone has a selfie camera under the screen. Xiaomi has demonstrated this technology many times before and has now reached the third generation. The first Xiaomi phone with an under-display camera is expected goes on sale later this year. However, the patent goes one step further, since the camera located under the screen can rotate.

On the back of the screen is placed the so-called flip-up camera module, with at least one camera lens. By default, the camera is oriented towards the rear and is part of a larger camera system, which consists of several lenses. The Triple camera’s top lens is rotatable, while the other two lenses remain facing backwards at all times.

By means of a motorized or magnetic drive module and a processor, it is possible to rotate the camera in the housing. Based on the extensive documentation, the preference seems to go to a magnetic module, which is cheaper to implement and also more durable (a motor can break, a magnet always works). In that case, a magnetic component will also be attached to the camera lens.

When the camera is activated selfie, it rotates internally, after which the part of the screen surrounding the camera module is deactivated to allow sufficient ambient light to enter. In practice you will hardly notice it, because this part of the screen is very small: in the image above it is the small blue square that is drawn around the camera lens. The remaining and also the largest part of the screen can be used as a viewfinder, to provide a preview of the image to be recorded.

The screen is also key

Finally, there is talk of a system of autofocus To be able to focus quickly and accurately, even in low light conditions. Xiaomi has already used an AF system of this type, consider for example the Mi 9. As for the type of screen, they can be used different types of screenssuch as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode), or CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display, as noted in the extensive documentation.

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