In 2018, Vivo made waves when it showcased one of the more interesting alternatives to the notch that houses the selfie camera. Its Vivo APEX concept featured a motorized pop-up camera, and it set a trend for a few 2018 phones, including its own Vivo NEX and the Oppo Find X. This year, the Chinese company could make an even bigger splash.
The company first teased its APEX 2019 concept on Friday on Chinese social network Weibo, setting the reveal date for January 24, this Thursday. Now, however, a promotional video seems to have leaked as well, and it shows off the smooth surface and edges all around the phone. Though the video doesn"t clearly showcase the phone from every angle, it looks like there are no buttons or ports on the phone.
Meanwhile, Twitter user Ben Geskin also published a render, seen above, of the APEX 2019 concept phone on Twitter, which is allegedly based on exclusive information provided by Vivo. The render also shows yet another interesting aspect of the phone: there are very minimal bezels all around, and the front-facing camera is nowhere to be seen. The trend for 2019 seems to be the use of designs that place the camera in a hole on the display panel, but Vivo seems to be planning to hide it completely.
Interestingly, while it looks like one of the more interesting designs we"ve seen so far, the APEX 2019 concept sticks to dual cameras on the back, when most manufacturers seem to be aiming for three.
The official reveal isn"t too far off, and we"ll only have to wait a couple of days to have an idea of what the APEX 2019 concept phone is actually like. Of course, while last year"s APEX lent some of its design choices to real devices, there"s no guarantee that this kind of aesthetic will actually make its way to a phone you can buy this year.
Source: Weibo, Ben Geskin (Twitter) via GSMArena