Oppo patents a phone design with a tiny rear-mounted secondary display

Smartphone makers are known to draw inspiration from their competitors. We’ve had many brands that have blatantly copied iPhone design an...

Smartphone makers are known to draw inspiration from their competitors. We’ve had many brands that have blatantly copied iPhone design and even the look and feel of iOS icons. Now a new patent filed by Oppo shows a phone that looks eerily similar to the Huawei Mate 40 Pro, though with obvious changes.

This patent was spotted on Chinese National Intellectual Property (CINPA) by 91Mobiles shows a yet to be released smartphone with a circular rear camera module housing three different sensors and an LED flash. This sort of setup was recently seen on Huawei’s flagship phone, however, the inner circle on Oppo’s design is a tiny secondary display.

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(Image credit: 91Mobiles)

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(Image credit: CNIPA)

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(Image credit: CNIPA)

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(Image credit: CNIPA)

According to the patent documents, the secondary display is meant to show the date and time. Checking out notifications on such a small display could be extremely tricky, hence we will have to wait for the company to show us how it intends to use the display. The patent documents and images of the phone do not show the presence of a selfie camera which suggests that this secondary display can also double up as a viewfinder for the camera to help take selfies.

Other takeaways from the patent document include the presence of a curved display upfront, USB-C for charging and connectivity, bottom-mounted sim tray and speaker. While up top there could be an infra-red sensor for built-in remote control.

While this is just a patent at this point, there may still be a chance that this phone may not ever see the light of the day. However, given the fact that this is not a very extraordinary design, there is a strong possibility that Oppo may end up launching the phone. And while it is way too early to predict but saying that it could be a part of the Find series from Oppo could be a safe bet.

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