Smartphone manufacturing companies have successfully expanded the display of their phones to the edges, but there"s still a challenging area that not everyone has succeeded in - hiding the front camera. While Android OEMs have had years of teardrop notches and punch hole displays, the notch on the iPhone remains as it is because of the camera hardware used. However, with the patent Apple just got, it looks like we might see a perfect notch-less iPhone after all.
According to the findings by Patently Apple, the US Patent and Trademark Office has officially granted Apple a patent that eliminates the iPhone"s notch and repositions the TrueDepth camera system behind the phone"s display. We have already seen something similar with Samsung"s Galaxy Z Fold3.
The picture below shows the difference between current iPhone camera notch and how the cameras will be hidden in the future design.
The FIG. 4 above illustrates a future environment where the camera could be hidden well beneath the screen in the middle of the display as well. Apple notes that "although the camera #420 does not necessarily contact the display #410, the camera is closer to the back surface (#418) of the display than the front surface #417."
For more information, you can check out the granted patent by clicking here.
Source: Patently Apple