Huawei patents a D-pad-shaped rear camera in a new phone design

Huawei has submitted a claim for what looks like an under-display selfie camera phone to the patents office CNIPA. This documented, filed in October 2019 and published in September 2020, is nothing hugely unusual in itself: the OEM has reportedly done the same before. However, those devices appeared to be variants of the pre-existing Pxx and Mate flagship series, whereas this newer one looks considerably less like either.

It has a rear camer module in the shape of a + symbol or a directional pad, which, compared to the typical lozenges, squares or circles of today, is much more novel. Huawei may have done this in a new attempt to unify different lens shapes in the same quad-sensor arrangement.

This possibility is reinforced by diagrams showing that one of them is square whereas the other 3 are round. This is usually indicative of a high-powered zoom lens that requires an innovative periscope array sitting at right angles to the rear panel within the phone.

As to the other side of the phone as depicted, it has an uninterrupted display with minimal bezels that are more or less constant on all sides. To date, it is not clear if this new design is intended for premium models, or perhaps, for the upper-mid-tier Huawei smartphones of the immediate future. In either case, it may be a further hint that the punch-hole's days are numbered already.