While Microsoft has revealed some specs for its dual-screen Surface Duo, one thing that it has remained quiet about until now is the camera. In fact, the prototype it showed off doesn’t even have a rear camera, but that’s something the company is actively working on, and the result will apparently be “world-class”.
That claim came from Panos Panay, chief product officer of the Microsoft Devices group, who in an event attended by WindowsArea apparently said “of course we’re working on a world-class camera” for the Surface Duo.
He didn’t go into any detail, so we don’t know what will make this camera world-class, but a patent might provide some clues.
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Spotted by WindowsLatest, a Microsoft patent application details a camera with a moving imaging sensor, which slots into place under a lens only when needed. This could allow the camera mechanism to be a lot thinner than usual, only jutting out when you’re actually taking photos.
And that could be especially important for the Surface Duo, as the phone is likely to be very thin when open, so as to avoid it being unreasonably thick when closed. As such, a conventional camera might end up sticking a long way out from the back of the device, something which a camera based on this patent could avoid.
However, we don’t know for sure that this is intended for the Surface Duo, only that it would make sense for it to be; and regardless, the patent doesn’t reveal anything about the quality or specs of the camera, so for now those details will have to remain a mystery.
Via GSMArena
