OPPO patents new retracting camera design; could debut with Find Y

OPPO has been granted a new design patent that shows how the brand’s upcoming smartphone might look like. Interestingly, the smartphone design in the newly granted patent shows a wide pop-up module that takes up the entire top edge – it rises from the middle of the top edge instead of having just a portion sliding out like on some other handsets. Although the new patent shares several similarities with the OPPO Find X (first impressions), the motorised lifting mechanism in the new design seems to be a little different. This new design could potentially be for the OPPO Find Y, whose name was trademarked earlier this year.

Now, before we go any further, it is important to point out that this is just a patent filing and a lot of times, the brand’s do not actually go ahead with the designs that are patented by them. This particular patent was filed back in November last year, so there is still a chance that the brand might opt for this design in future. Coming back to the design in question, as you can see in the image (above), unlike the OPPO Find X, where the lifting screw was placed in the middle (image below), the new design shows two screws on either side of the handset.

Further, the top edge of the pop-up camera module can be seen (image below) with different designs in the patent as well.

Finally, the placement of the camera sensors upfront is dissimilar to the one found on OPPO Find X. All these differences suggest that this could be the flagship handset’s successor and may offer some design improvements. However, as the OPPO Find X did not manage to sell like hotcakes, it would be interesting to see if the brand is willing to come out with its successor or not. To recall, OPPO Find X was appreciated for its bold design but most critics pointed out that there were some core issues with the handset that prevented it from getting a thumbs up. If this is indeed our first look at OPPO Find Y (or whatever the OPPO Find X successor will be called), we sure hope the brand has taken care of the issues presented by its predecessor.