Samsung patents different concepts for future smartphone cameras

Three different concepts related to the rear camera on a smartphone have been patented by Samsung in South Korea, giving us an idea of what the future might hold for the company's smartphones. The patents were discovered on KIPRIS, which is a patent search service connected to the KIPO regulatory agency. The latter is equivalent to the USPTO in the country.

The three different concepts feature different sketches. One shows a phone, similar to the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ in design, with a curved screen and a glass back and front. There is no home button. On the rear of this device is a camera, flanked on both sides by a Xenon flash. Out of the three concepts, this is probably the one that could be implemented right now. Samsung would have to stuff a large enough battery inside the phone to help power up dual Xenon light sources.

The second patent focuses on a modular type system that allows the user to snap in different cameras. The sketches that accompany the patent include one camera/flash combination that looks similar to what we would expect on a phone today. Another has an over-sized lens that might offer optical zoom, and a third apparently comes with interchangeable lenses.

The last concept is a thin camera phone with a large circular component on back that houses the camera lens and flash. There is a physical shutter button, a thicker camera-like grip, and another button that could be used as a dial.

Of course, there is no way of knowing whether Samsung plans on actually employing any of these ideas for future handsets. But the ideas are now published, and more importantly for Samsung, protected by the patent laws of South Korea.


source: KIPRIS (1), (2), (3) via GalaxyClub.nl (translated), GSMArena