Essential Under-screen Camera Phone Under Development, Patent Suggests

Introduced in 2017, the Essential Phone PH-1 hit the market as one of the first phones not to feature a P2 headphone jack and the notorious notch.The device gained a lot of popularity simply because it was designed by Andy Rubin, a former Google employee and considered the Father of Android.Although it looks promising, the Essential Phone PH1 had underperformed sales, causing the brands next big project, Essential Phone 2, to be postponed.

While the company appeared to be recover, a new product announcement was made now in October through a Twitter post the project GEM , which shows an incredibly narrow screen device available in four flashy colors.But by all accounts, this will not be the only letter up Essentials sleeve for the next few months, seeing that the young company also appears to be developing an under-screen smartphone (at least as a new patent suggests).In June of this year Essential Products filed a patent with the USPTO (US Patent & Trademark Office) entitled Optical Sensors Arranged Under the Screen of an Electronic Device.

Published October 17, 2019, the patent shows a smartphone with camera under the screen; the top would have a variable transparency area, meaning it could become completely transparent so that the camera can capture the images.The diagrams detail a narrow-edged handset with a top-centered selfie camera it is interesting to note that this is a utility patent and not a design patent.This means that it is just the technology record (which could possibly be used on any type of smartphone) and not a device itself.

Something similar had been recorded before, but it had to be redrafted after complaints from USPTO, which required several adjustments.There is no forecast for when this so-called new Essential Phone will hit the market, nor can we expect it in terms of hardware and price, but it is encouraging that the company continues to show that it has not thrown in the towel in such a saturated and competitive market.Tapan Barman is a Mobile Technology Enthusiast who is passionate about Mobile phones and Mobile apps.

You can follow him on Facebook and Instagram.Originally published at on October 29, 2019