This patent was filed with the World Intellectual Organization (WIPO) back in June of 2021, but it was published earlier today. The patent was discovered by 91Mobile, and it gives us a look at what Google plans to do. Looking at the device, we see a typical notebook foldable. When closed, it has the footprint of a typical slab phone. When opened, the phone turns into a small tablet. This makes sense; we don’t expect Google to try and reinvent the wheel here. The inner display appears to be surrounded by a pretty significant bezel (Fig 1), and that might turn some people away. We’ll need to wait for the final product to confirm that, however. Looking at Fig 2, it looks like the display is recessed just a bit. Fig 3B shows us a cross-section of the device, and we see the tear-drop-shaped curve of the display when it’s closed. This could point to this phone not having a defined crease. That’s great, as the crease seems to be one of the main gripes that people have.
The Pixel Fold might have a camera in the bezel
The Pixel Fold might have a camera in the bezel
Turning our attention to the selfie camera, it looks like Google wants to avoid using a punch-hole. Looking at the large bezel, we see a spot for the selfie camera. Fig 1 and Fig 7 both show us some details about the selfie camera. The selfie camera could be housed in the actual bezel of the phone. There are some rumors that pointed to the camera being hidden within the frame of the phone, but that might not be the case. We’ll need to wait until Google gives us some more information on this phone before we can know for sure.
