14 DAY TRIAL // The US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) published Apple's patent detailing a smartphone with a camera and a full sensor array under the display on November 8, as first discovered by LetsGoDigital's Ilse Jurrien.
Moreover, the patent Apple filed on June 27 with the USPTO summarizes the invention as "Apparatus, systems and methods for camera integration with cover glass and for processing cover glass to provide a camera window for an electronic device are disclosed."
The patent also says that "The apparatus, systems and methods are especially suitable for cover glasses, or displays (e.g., LCD displays), assembled in small form factor electronic devices such as handheld electronic devices (e.g., mobile phones, media players, personal digital assistants, remote controls, etc.)."
Using this new tech, Apple will most probably be able to come up with a full-screen edge-to-edge design in their future line of iPhones, just in time seeing that the next round of smartphones they bring on should be a generation based on redesigning/improving the design of its predecessors.
Apple's notchless iPhone with a full-screen display might use Corning's DVTS glass tech
Apple's patent also describes what possible material Apple might use to create the display cover glass: "For example, alumino silicate glass (e.g., DVTS from Corning) is one suitable choice for the glass material for the cover glass. Other examples of glass materials include, but are not limited to including, sodalime, borosilicate, and the like."
The cover glass tech Apple has just patented also has the potential of being used in other devices they manufacture from portable computers (i.e., MacBooks and MacBook Pros), as well as tablet computers (i.e., iPads.) according to the same patent: "[..] can also be used for cover glasses or displays for other relatively larger form factor electronic devices (e.g., portable computers, tablet computers, displays, monitors, televisions, etc.)."
Apple is not the first one to patent an in-screen camera array, with LG, Oppo, Samsung, and Huawei having their own patents published this year describing smartphones with edge-to-edge displays featuring the entire sensor array and the camera neatly tucked under a cover glass.
However, unlike their competitors, Samsung's patent published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on October 24 also adds an extra twist: a hologram device which would allow the users to project 3D images in the air using a projector or light interference tech.
