Vivo has patented a sliding cover design for the smartphone, eliminating the need for a punch, pop-up, or notch to accommodate a selfie camera, according to 91Mobiles.
While the design itself doesn't seem new, as it's been implemented before by Xiaomi on the Xiaomi MIX 3, OPPO on the Find X, and even Honor on the Magic 2, this will be a first for vivo.
The brand had earlier featured a pop-up selfie camera design on its phones, but it looks like we may soon see a phone with a sliding camera module.
Considering the bold design choices, the brand has made with its NEX series smartphones, we are likely to see the same form factor in the upcoming NEX smartphone products.
As can be seen from the design patent, the phone appears to have a four-camera setup on the back.
When taking a picture, the main camera is automatically raised by a sliding mechanism to reveal an LED flash.
Unfortunately, with the exception of the sliding module, the rest of the design looks pretty standard.
Oddly enough, the smartphone doesn't seem to have a selfie camera as part of its design, but we can expect it to be housed in a sliding mechanism.