Vivo working on detachable flying camera on a smartphone: Report

After putting a gimbal on their smartphones, it seems that Vivo has plans to take camera technology to a whole new level. And they are even willing to fly for it. A new patent from Vivo shows that the company could be working on a smartphone with a unique camera function. While we are already familiar with camera drones, Vivo could be working on a detachable drone-like camera module on a smartphone.

Vivo reportedly filed a patent with WIPO last year that was published on July 1. Following the patent images, it appears that Vivo is working on a smartphone that comes with a detachable flying camera module that pops out of the bottom of the device. This is essentially a flying camera that sits on the smartphone when not in use and is not a separate peripheral.

This detachable flying camera module has four propellers that help it fly and houses a battery separate from the smartphone battery, and has two camera sensors on the body. Also, there are two infrared sensors on the two sides of this detachable flying camera module. While the patent does not explain what these infrared sensors are for, in all likelihood, they are intended to prevent this flying module from colliding with other objects such as in flight.

Reports indicate that this flying camera module could feature auto-tracking mode to follow the user and fly automatically. There may also be support for aerial gestures, but the patent does not yet have any concrete information about this.

The design of this detachable flying camera module is quite similar to the Air Pix, which is a flying camera product. The Air Pix is about 10cm in size, so understandably what Vivo is working on will have to be much smaller to fit a smartphone. Now, while this is all very exciting, it is unknown if Vivo is working on a smartphone like this. A patent doesn't necessarily mean that the company will release a phone like this. Companies often file many patents, many of which never see the light of day in finished forms. However, some concepts from those patents may appear in future devices. So it remains to be seen what Vivo has planned.