Next-gen Pixel smartphones may have under-display cameras thanks to a new Google patent

The smartphone selfie camera is showing increasingly convincing signs of evolving from the ever-present punch-hole into an under-display (or UDC) form instead. In this form, the lens is still lodged within a mobile device's screen panel, but is located under a specialized square of this material that can become clear at need in order to deploy the front-facing sensor.

UDCs are currently projected to become more popular and prevalent over the next few years, possibly starting with their adoption in the upcoming premium Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 phablet. Furthermore, it now looks like Google has its own version in the works, according to a new patent recently submitted to the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO).

It depicts a form of mobile camera clearly intended to hide beneath a display when not in use. It indicates that Google has developed an interesting mechanism in order to bring this about: apparently, the "active" UDC part of the display overlays a prism that can rotate to face a lens and sensor at need, or an "auxiliary display" so as to complete the screen's edge-to-edge look when not in use.

Then again, given the date of its acceptance to the WIPO database (September 15, 2020, having originally been filed in 2019), the new IP is unlikely to be realized in the upcoming Pixel 6 series.

This rumored successor's (or successors', maybe) to the 5 leaks contain renders showing a central punch-hole thus far in any case. Therefore, this new 'Google UDC' might be ready for the OEM's 2022 phones at the earliest.

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