Samsung is known for being experimental and daring with new designs and implementations in its smartphone manufacturing. It’s in a unique position enabling it to take risks and try new ideas to see if they will stick.
In 2019 the company implemented one of those out-there ideas and released its first rotating camera on the Galaxy A80. The South Korean conglomerate has taken out a patent (via MySmartPrice) for a rotating camera design integrated with a foldable device.
The patent shows that it will consist of two housings connected by a hinge. The rotating camera module will be placed either at the top right corner or dead center in the right bezel.
Moreover, folding angle and motion sensors are also present. They will help with determining the phone’s orientation and the angle at which the two housings are. The rotating module will then act according to the sensors’ signals while the camera app is open.
Why would this matter?
This design can be beneficial for a few reasons. First, it could allow the manufacturer to spend fewer resources on a front-facing camera system. However, we are not sure how much such a module costs, so we cannot say whether the production cost is lower.The more obvious benefit here is for the end-user, and that is the equal quality in images from both the rear and front-facing shots. It looks to me that rotating cameras seem to go very well with foldables. On the other hand, I am not so sure about the durability, and folding phones weren’t sturdy in the first place.
