OnePlus's Concept One rear camera can be hidden because of its electrochromic glass. Now the company's design patents filed with the WIPO Global Design Database indicate that the company's future device may achieve similar results in other ways.
The patent shows a circular camera on a phone-like device, similar to the OnePlus 7T. But it appears to have a cover that can be turned "off" and "on". It is unclear whether the opening and closing of the cover is automatic or manual.
It is worth noting that there is no visible selfie camera on the front of the device. The patent also shows top, side, and bottom views of the phone, but none have a pop-up camera, meaning that an under-screen camera may be used.
This technology isn't ready yet, but may be used in devices in a few years, but don't expect to see this design on the OnePlus 8.
This hidden effect of the Concept One's camera is because it uses a very thin electrochromic glass, which reduces the thickness while ensuring the discoloration effect.
OnePlus made two special designs. First, it repeatedly adjusted the EC material. Under the premise that the thickness of the EC material was only 0.05 mm, it achieved industry-leading transmittance contrast.
Secondly, OnePlus added non-polar glass balls with a diameter of less than 0.05 mm to ensure that the glass does not deform, which greatly reduces the thickness of the glass.
The glass ball added inside the electrochromic glass bypasses the camera area, and adopts advanced ITO coating technology to achieve a transparent conductive film with lower square resistance and higher transmittance.
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