When it comes to smartphone, Lenovo is not the company most people would expect to aggressively innovate, but here it is, a patent filed with the country’s intellectual property office (CNIPA). The patent filing indicated Lenovo’s intent to pull a “inverted notch” at the left or right side of the device for the purpose of housing the front-facing to achieve a true edge-to-edge display.
The protruding nub is reminiscent that of old mobile phone with external antenna and it also reminds us of the patent which Xiaomi filed previously on a so-called “reverse notch.” But in that version, Xiaomi’s intent was to have the nub right smack in the middle of the phone’s top.
Even than, Xiaomi’s “reverse notch” was not the newest idea. Prior, ZTE pitched the idea of side protrusion with the AXON V.
Back to the patent submitted… it includes several draft phones of which the “inverted notch” could be applied on. Among which, as speculated by Chinese tech website Sina Tech [CH], could be the Moto Z series.
But a patent is a patent. It may very well be stashed and never see the light of implementation as it almost always have. Personally, I’d embrace a corner inverted notch. However, I think the biggest innovation would be not having camera bump at all while maintaining a reasonably thin profile.
Source: Sina Tech [CH].
