Xiaomi is known for patenting unique new smartphone designs that haven’t been seen before and the latest one is no different. The company has published a patent for a camera module that can be detached from the back of the phone when needed.
The patent shared by 91Mobiles shows that the device has a full-screen display on the front without any front camera. This is because the main camera on the back can be detached and used as a selfie camera instead.
The main camera appears to have multiple sensors on it and the patent shows that these could be used for the front camera too. The camera’s default layout is vertical, but it can be used in any orientation as a selfie camera. It is unclear how this system works, but Xiaomi will likely enable it with the help of magnets.
There are also multiple camera layouts shown in the patent. One is the pill-shaped dual camera setup shown in the image above, and the other is a quad-camera module in a circular layout. A complete image of the phone with the circular camera is not available yet.
This isn’t the first time we have seen a phone with detachable cameras as Oppo published a similar patent back in 2019. As with every other patent, the design may never see the light of the day, so take this information with a grain of salt.
We can’t say anything about this particular design but Xiaomi’s foldable phone is likely to be launched this year.
