This is probably the world’s first pop-up camera. Vivo is reportedly working on a Smartphone that will come with multiple cameras popping out of the frame. These multi-level pop-up shooters aren’t facing forward, like most selfie cameras. Instead, they face backward to enable rear camera functionality.
LetsGoDigital, who gave the report, saw a document which confirms that the company is working on a mobile phone equipped with a “pop-up super telephoto camera.” In the patent, Vivo wants to enhance the zoom range of this smartphone. It is not clear how this unique camera layout will help out, but the patent says it should allow “higher multiple zoom”.
According to other information in the documentation, Vivo’s multi-decker pop-up camera phone would come with an under-display selfie snapper. Technically, a user would not be able to see any physical cameras on the phone when he or she is not taking pictures.
Meanwhile, the rear-facing pop-up module would extend in four steps, whereby each extension would reveal a camera sensor. The bottom-most sensor will be the default one that pops out and users can choose to extend the other sensors as and when they desire.
Vivo’s proprietary phone certainly looks futuristic, and it will be interesting to see how many pop-up cameras help with telephoto shots. However, the structure looks a little fragile as shown in concept drawings and may have functional problems with prolonged use.
We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves though, since this is just patent and not the final product. Vivo might or might not go ahead with such a camera system on an actual phone. Though, in the past, Vivo has brought some of its patents to life. A case was when the company’s gimbal image stabilization system first appeared in a patent and later made it to the Vivo X60 Pro. If the company thinks that multiple pop-up cameras are the way to go, it’s a distinct possibility we might get a commercial Vivo phone featuring the same.
