Huawei patents what might be the most extreme form of the waterfall display yet

Huawei has patented a new mobile device design that could easily be described as a partial Mi Mix Alpha. This is because its display curves around to the rear panel to such a degree that it occupies the sides in their entirety, thus leaving them clearly visible even if the resulting device were to be placed on its front.

Accordingly, the effect is indeed very similar to the experimental Xiaomi phone of a few years ago. The new Huawei variation, known as Arc Display, has edges that find themselves having to act as the device's buttons.

However, the patent suggests that their contents might change based on the activation of different functions: for example, they might act as different, multi-choice buttons in some apps; shoulder buttons in games or simply as a virtual ticker-tape for general status-bar items or for incoming calls.

Huawei seems to aspire to get rid of buttons altogether, pushing them further and further back toward the edge of the frame in several generations of its flagship smartphones. Then again, this patent seems to call for flat edges rather than curved, so as to better serve as touch controls.

Nevertheless, with this new "Arc" development, these ambitions might have reached the pinnacle of the OEM's ambitions. However, as the USPTO has only published the patent on July 15, 2021, prospective devices such as the Mate 50 might still evade this fate.

Presuming it does not, however, the blog LetsGoDigital has prepared renders imagining it with this new kind of display, as well as a refined take on the camera hump from the P50-series.