The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 may have a rotating camera, but there's a catch

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• The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 may have a rotating camera, but there's a catch

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 is probably about to land, with leaks and even official trailers suggesting it will arrive on August 11. But we've already gotten a glimpse of what the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 might look like, and it could be in for some big changes. A Samsung patent application filed with the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) and spotted by LetsGoDigital details a foldable phone that looks a lot like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, except it has a much larger secondary screen and a rotating camera. This camera is a dual-lens camera that lives in the hinge, and you can rotate it to make it usable when the phone is closed (with only the cover screen visible) or when it's open, and at different angles in between. So it can be used for both selfies and all your other photography needs. It wouldn't be the first time a phone has had a rotating camera. The Samsung Galaxy A80 had one, for example, just like the Oppo N1, and it launched in 2013. But it would be the first foldable phone with a rotating camera. The benefits are obvious: you get premium selfie photography gear, and the phone doesn't need a notch or hole-punch to house any of its cameras. Housing the camera on the hinge would also help provide a larger secondary screen, since it would not be necessary to leave it for the camera lenses next to the screen.

(Image credit: Samsung / LetsGoDigital) That's great, but if you've looked at the previous sketches, you've probably noticed some issues with this implementation of a rotating camera. By accommodating it on the hinge, the hinge itself needs to be much bigger, which also makes the phone bigger. On top of that, the hinge and camera stick out widely when the phone is open, so you won't be able to lay it flat that way, and it generally looks a bit ungky, which isn't a big deal. expensive folding. For these reasons, along with the fact that patents often don't make it into products, we're not convinced the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 has this design. Samsung is rumored to be using an in-display selfie camera for the Galaxy Z Fold 3, so we think the company is more likely to continue down this path, making camera components less visible and prominent, not more. Especially since rotating cameras have never really caught on, even though companies have been experimenting with them for years. We wouldn't totally rule out a rotating camera for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, but we'd say it's unlikely to have one, especially with this design. However, a larger secondary screen is certainly possible. By phone Arena