Lenovo’s been teasing a new smartphone with a series of images showing a phone that appears to have virtually no top bezel and no notch housing a front-facing camera.
The company is set to officially unveil the Lenovo Z5 in China on June 5th, but a set of pictures leaked on Twitter by @TechNavvi allegedly shows where that front camera is hiding: in the bottom bezel.
Is this leak legit? I have no idea. But it certainly seems plausible. Basically there are only three things Lenovo can do if it wants a no-bezel/no-notch top border:
- Put the camera in the bottom, where there needs to be a “chin” for display connection purposes anyway.
- Use a Vivo Apex-style pop-out camera.
- Release a phone without a front-facing camera.
That last option seems highly unlikely, and the second one is unusual enough that we’ve only seen one company even show off a prototype with a pop-out design so far. Maybe if Vivo’s phone is successful in the marketplace we’ll see copycats.
Meanwhile, a bottom camera isn’t unprecedented: Xiaomi’s original Mi Mix smartphone had a camera below the screen as well.
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for the Lenovo Z5 to reach North America: Lenovo does sell some phones in the Western Hemisphere, but with the exception of the Lenovo Phab line of devices, most are Motorola-branded phones.
via GSM Arena and /r/Android
I wish there was a 7″ tablet made with a similar look
LOL
My thought is to eliminate the front camera altogether and put a small lower res (read cheap) secondary screen on the back for “selfie” mode or video chats. 1 camera but 2 screens no notch, no bezel.
Looking good!