Samsung’s heavily leaked Galaxy S11 is already making the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 look out of date. But Samsung may have an even more exciting smartphone planned.
Picked up by the eagle-eyes at Tiger Mobiles (via BGR), Samsung has published a new patent revealing work on a radical new smartphone with a bezel-less design and triple front-facing cameras. Moreover, these cameras are unlikely to look or operate how you expect.
While the filed patent images (below) show the oval-shaped alignment you would consider essential for a triple-front-facing smartphone camera array, Samsung has already shown us this is not the direction the company is headed. How? Because after using a dual front-facing array in the Galaxy S10 Plus, it pulled this design from the Galaxy Note 10 (a more expensive phone) to go back to a less-obtrusive single lens. So increasing the cut-out to three cameras is not an option.
Instead, the answer has been sitting out in the open for some time. Back in November 2018, Samsung product marketing director Hassan Anjum revealed the ‘New Infinity’ display – a notch-less, bezel-less panel which hides the cameras under the display. At the time he said New Infinity displays “are just around the corner, and I can’t wait to tell you more about them.”
While the tech missed the 2019 Galaxy S10 and Note 10 launches, “just around the corner” puts it in line for 2020. Personally speaking, I would be blown away if it hits the Galaxy S11 but I suspect it may launch instead in a concept device or even the Galaxy Note 11 at the end of the year.
But why would you need triple-front-facing cameras? You don’t. You need the extra slots for cutting-edge facial recognition. In 2019 Samsung walked away from its poor implementation of the tech seen in previous devices but with Apple, OnePlus and soon Google’s Pixel 4 ramping up the pressure, Samsung now has to respond.
Yes, if this tech makes it into the Galaxy S11 it will be a game-changer because we already know the phone packs a groundbreaking camera, upgraded design, major performance increases, next-gen memory, a supersized fingerprint sensor and AI-focused image processing. It could also contain revolutionary new battery tech.