Samsung is considering rotating cameras for foldable phones
Foldable telephones are not yet fully developed. While it started with phones that you had to fold, work is now underway on rollable phones. In addition to techniques for folding screens, Samsung is thinking about the cameras of foldable phones. These could possibly be rotated in future foldables, according to a patent.
Development at foldables
Unlike regular telephones, foldable telephones are not yet fully developed. For example, work is underway on the development of foldable glass, which Samsung introduced last year as the first manufacturer of foldable phones. Manufacturers also spend a lot of time developing stronger hinges, trying to leave as much space as possible for the batteries that are often placed in both halves of the phone.
Cameras you can rotate
It was already known that cameras take up a lot of space. In addition, a foldable phone often contains more cameras compared to a regular phone. Usually you will find a selfie camera on the cover screen, in the folding screen and on the back of the phone. Although there is ‘only one’ extra camera on a foldable phone compared to the regular non-foldables, this does take up space that cannot be used for the batteries. Samsung may want to solve this problem with rotating cameras.
A patent that Samsung has filed with WIPO shows a rotating camera. All cameras are housed in a cylindrical housing. It is possible that the cameras can be rotated via Samsung’s camera software. The advantage of this is that the cameras will take up ‘less space’ on the one hand. On the other hand, it ensures that you can take both selfies and regular photos at the same quality. The concept is therefore similar to that of the Asus Zenfone 8 Flip – a phone with a flip-up camera module.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Series
The patents show a phone with a similar form factor to the Galaxy Z Fold series. However, the screen of a foldable phone with such a module would have a small notch, as shown by the published images. With patents, it is important to mention that design does not play a role, but that Samsung records the technology. Samsung may have found a way to incorporate the module into the design by the time it plans to adopt this technology, eliminating the need for a notch.
For patents, it is also important to report that these are ideas. It remains uncertain whether Samsung plans to use a rotating camera at all, or whether the idea has been established just to be able to use it someday, without having to enter into a patent battle with other manufacturers.
So while it may be a nice concept to improve the quality of selfies and give more space for batteries in foldables, it is far from certain that this will ever reach the market.
