Xiaomi
A new patent filed by Xiaomi reveals the company's ambitious plan to develop a smartphone without notch, bezel, and with invisible front camera. (Photo: Reuters / Abhishek N. Chinnappa)

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is trying to change the game on the smartphone screen by pushing for a bezel-less, blemish-free display. Apple sticks to wide notch while the Seoul-based smartphone maker Samsung plays around with punch holes. Xiaomi has already mentioned the cut-out free smartphone, but while it is still a no-show, a patent may suggest how exactly the Chinese smartphone maker plans to pull it off.

One of the elusive goals of the smartphone industry is on how to achieve an invisible camera under the display. A hole in the display is not actually the solution since it still makes the camera visible while making the section of the display completely unusable. A patent spotted recently by Windows United reveals that Xiaomi is trying to solve the issue by introducing a display with multiple layers.

Based on the patent, one layer will have pixels that usually function as the standard display. The layer underneath that will not let the light get through the camera. The second layer will only allow the light through the camera when it needs to be used with the layer above it where the pixels are located turned off.

But, a patent does not always come with an illustration that is ready for consumer devices. This kind of design would still have to address concerns on bleeding from display pixels around the camera. Additionally, it has to resolve the impacts on color accuracy, as well as the effects the light treading through the display would have on the image.

If the Chinese smartphone maker would be able to pull this off, it could place Xiaomi at the forefront of screen technology and design in the market. We have already seen the bezel-less phone on the Xiaomi Mi Mix. Eventually, everyone followed suit, including Apple. But, it might be much harder to replicate something heavily founded on certain display technology.

In other Xiaomi news, the company now enters the Japanese mobile phone market. This is an apt time for the Beijing-based company to join the market since the country is currently undergoing several changes because of the regulations implemented in October. The new regulations could be disadvantageous to premium smartphone brands, which could be an opportunity for Xiaomi considering its lower-priced handset models.

Xiaomi made its way in the competitive smartphone industry by introducing flagship killer phones with advanced specs at insanely affordable prices.