Leak: A new Xiaomi smartphone with remodeled pop-up front camera emerges!

A tipster name "FixedFocus" shows an image of an alleged Xiaomi smartphone with redesigned front-facing pop-up camera.

The alleged Xiaomi phone with a pop-up camera

Is this the return of pop-up cameras?

The last time we saw a Xiaomi smartphone w/ pop-up was from the Xiaomi Mi 9T series. Back then, it looked futuristic, stylish on the back, and what could be the answer for a full-screen experience. However, it was immediately dropped for the following smartphone series as the motorized mechanism for pop-ups was slowly degrading over time.

Now fast forward to 2023, Xiaomi looks to be trying again but with some changes to its design. As you can see it is much longer presumably to accommodate multiple sensors with it. A similar design was also seen before from the vivo NEX 3.

The patent

As for the new patent, it will be based on "Hidden Electronic Device and Hidden Camera" which promises a reduced space occupancy and thus will have slimmer/lightweight devices versus other pop-up-styled cameras. This new design intends to address some of the drawbacks connected with previous iterations, such as the increased weight and size of the device.

Based on National Intellectual Property Administration's patent, certifies the presence of housing, camera module, and retractable reflective component. The latter is said to play an essential role in protecting the camera module by saving space usage and improving pixel quality by reflecting images on the camera module.

The popularity of pop-up cameras has seen ups and downs over the years have passed, with many phone makers choosing to use punch-hole or under-screen cameras to achieve a sleeker look. For Apple, they opted to do Dynamic Island as a way to cover up the notch's shortcomings. 

With Xiaomi's return to this type of tech, they might be seeing some potential and resilience for innovation in this area.

What do you guys think?

Source: cnbeta