What you need to know
- Huawei is, unsurprisingly, developing a clamshell foldable phone.
- A newly unearthed patent with China's patent office shows off a rough sketch of what the company is working on.
- The company has recently also applied to trademark the 'Mate V' moniker.
In a move that should surprise no one, Huawei is planning to take the fight to Samsung and Motorola with its own take on a clamshell foldable phone à la Galaxy Z Flip, patents discovered by TigerMobiles reveal.
Given that the patent is just a mockup, of course, don't expect to see too many details about the finished product here. What the images do reveal, however, is that the company is indeed working on a phone that folds vertically. They also show the planned camera setup for the device, with an array of rear cameras stacked vertically in the upper left corner of the phone.
Interestingly, there also seems to be a small touch screen just beneath the camera array, which would line up with a previous story indicating the company was experimenting with the use of touch screens around the rear camera array. Presumably, this could be used to facilitate selfies with the rear camera.
The selfie camera, it seems, will be hosted inside a notch above the screen — so, I guess, it's time to say "Welcome back!" to one of the most loathed design changes on smartphones in the last few years.
The images also reveal that the company had filed for the patent all the way back in August 2019, almost three months before Motorola announced its revamped RAZR and rejuvenated interest in the foldable phone form factor.
In related news, the company was recently also found to have filed a trademark application for the 'Mate V' moniker (via LetsGoDigital). When half folded, a clamshell phone does look like a V, no?
