Google has filed a patent that could give us some clues about the next generation Pixel smartphone.
The patent, which recently popped up on the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s website, shows an all-screen design for a mystery smartphone.
This device does have a slim bezel encircling the display, similar to the iPhone XS, only without a notch for the front-facing camera. Instead, the Pixel's signature stereo speakers bisect the top and bottom edges of the screen. It's a unique concept — and likely sounds terrible out loud — but actually translates into a very clean, minimalist and symmetrical solution that doesn't impede real estate as much as a traditional notch would.
While there's no obvious location for the camera in this interpretation, it's possible Google could go the sliding route that Xiaomi and Honor have by mounting the camera on a separate panel behind the display. On the back, both concepts echo the two-tone design present in every Pixel to date, with a single-lens camera set inside a rectangle that would likely employ a glossy finish, while the rest of the backside would be matte.
As always with patents, it's important to stress that these applications are not indicative of final products, or even prototypes in the pipeline. There's no indication the Pixel 4 will actually look like either of them. Nevertheless, if we had to put our money on one, we would expect the second proposal, which retains the stereo speakers, to actually stand a chance of being produced.
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The patent, which recently popped up on the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s website, shows an all-screen design for a mystery smartphone.
This device does have a slim bezel encircling the display, similar to the iPhone XS, only without a notch for the front-facing camera. Instead, the Pixel's signature stereo speakers bisect the top and bottom edges of the screen. It's a unique concept — and likely sounds terrible out loud — but actually translates into a very clean, minimalist and symmetrical solution that doesn't impede real estate as much as a traditional notch would.
While there's no obvious location for the camera in this interpretation, it's possible Google could go the sliding route that Xiaomi and Honor have by mounting the camera on a separate panel behind the display. On the back, both concepts echo the two-tone design present in every Pixel to date, with a single-lens camera set inside a rectangle that would likely employ a glossy finish, while the rest of the backside would be matte.
As always with patents, it's important to stress that these applications are not indicative of final products, or even prototypes in the pipeline. There's no indication the Pixel 4 will actually look like either of them. Nevertheless, if we had to put our money on one, we would expect the second proposal, which retains the stereo speakers, to actually stand a chance of being produced.
Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk
