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On November 18, Apple patently released a report titled “Oppo, the Chinese smartphone supplier, surprised the market at its main event by introducing a scrollable smartphone for 2021.” The report provided videos and general information on the upcoming Oppo X 2021 That might spark some interest among smartphone enthusiasts who want a smartphone with an easily expandable display at the push of a button.
Clearly, Chinese smartphone supplier Oppo wants to expand its presence in China and Europe by snatching market share from Huawei, which recently sold its ‘Honor’ smartphone brand, which is sure to further weaken Huawei’s market share at the level. world.
They also want to test Apple through new form factors and try to break the camera update cycle that drives iPhone sales annually.
Beyond the 2021 Oppo X scrollable form factor smartphone, a new Oppo patent application has come to light with a strange idea that might be of interest to some: Upgradeable camera modules.
While Google came up with the concept of a smartphone that consumers could ultimately create using a base phone that could accept magnetic add-on modules for the rear of Project Ara, Oppo wants to keep it simple for now by focusing only on upgradeable camera modules. where the consumer interest is the highest.
This is the only feature that is changing rapidly and smartphone owners may want to pay for a camera upgrade rather than a brand new phone every year to get the best camera.
Oppo’s patent figures below illustrate their basic concept of an upgradeable camera module with Figure 5 illustrating a plug-in module extension.
Oppo’s patent application states that “The # 500 camera module includes the # 520 lens cartridge, the # 530 flexible circuit board (FPC, flexible printed circuit board) and the # 540 first connecting end, the tube Lens # 520 and the first connection end # 540 are connected to both ends of the flex circuit board and the first connection end is connected to the motherboard 300 to allow the camera module 500 to communicate with the motherboard .
If you’re interested in digging into the details and seeing more patent numbers, check out Oppo’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) patent WO2020238122 here.
One could imagine swapping an iPhone Pro camera module for an iPhone Pro MAX camera module for, say, $ 249 (installed by a Genius Bar rep) 12-18 months after purchasing the Pro model. Would that interest fans from Apple? Well, instead of buying a brand new iPhone to get the latest camera, why not upgrade to the latest camera? The idea has been on the minds of other Apple fans this year.
For that reason, we can only hope that the Oppo concept is seriously on its roadmap and succeeds. Unless it is a threat to the iPhone in China, Apple will not see this idea impacting sales of new iPhones in the short term.
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