Xiaomi foldable smartphone patent packs a pop-up selfie camera to allow for a full-screen tablet display

Another month, another Xiaomi smartphone patent. LetsGoDigital has highlighted the latest patent production from the popular Chinese company that portrays a design for a foldable smartphone. While there have already been patents revealed in regard to a potential Xiaomi foldable device, this new effort offers a typically Xiaomi-like solution for the selfie camera: A pop-up mechanism.

A similar foldable smartphone patent appeared in October but that particular Xiaomi device utilized a slider for the front-facing camera. This time around, a pop-up camera mechanism has been chosen as the preferred solution, something that Xiaomi has used on smartphones like the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro (Redmi K20 Pro) and the Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro. The dual-lens pop-up camera in the patent is stored in the rear part of the case, so that it faces forward in both smartphone (folded) and tablet (unfolded) modes.

It’s only a matter of time before Xiaomi joins the commercial foldable smartphone sector with a mass-produced device of its own, with a likely launch for a folding phone occurring in 2021. Whether the Xiaomi foldable smartphone joins the well-regarded Mi Mix lineup or is branded under a whole new series name to take on rivals like the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X ranges remains a mystery.