honor’s new upcoming phone features a hidden slide-out camera

The first time we saw a phone with a hidden camera was when vivo released a concept device called the Apex. That concept then became the vivo NEX, which was the first full all-display device. The front part was all screen, no notch, no speaker grill. To make that possible vivo had to house the front-facing camera in a very unique way. It was hidden inside the top part of the phone and popped up automatically when you needed to use it. The first time we saw the hidden camera mechanism in action, it was the best thing ever.

However, vivo wasn’t the only manufacturer that had a phone with a hidden camera. Not long after the NEX was launched OPPO too introduced a truly all-display phone — the Find X — and like the vivo NEX, to make the front of the device virtually 100% display, the camera of the Find X had to be hidden in a slide our mechanism.

The Find X was so amazing that my colleague and natural sceptic Rory was very impressed with the device. This is what he said:

I was initially worried about whether the Find X would live up to the hype. I had all of these expectations that the device — especially its motorised camera module — would be polished and flawless, so I was pretty afraid that I’d be disappointed. Thankfully, I can say that I wasn’t — at least not yet. For now, it looks like OPPO’s put real thought into making the Find X a proper flagship smartphone, rather than rushing ahead with a flashy new idea.

And that brings me to this new phone that honor has just teased. Much like the OPPO Find X, the honor Magic 2 features a slide-out hidden camera mechanism that appears to be housing the front camera and the many front-facing sensors that you’d expect in a modern-day smartphone, Unlike the Find X however, the slide-out mechanism is operated manually as opposed to the super cool motor-driven mechanism on the Find X.

The honor Magic 2 was initially teased during August at IFA 2018 and the company has promised that the device will be available to the public before the year is out. During the short presentation about the Magic 2 at IFA 2018, we learn that the device will be powered by the brand new 7nm Kirin 980 processor, the flagship processor developed by Huawei (honor’s parent company) and is currently being used in the Mate 20 series that was just launched. You can also expect the honor Magic 2 to feature a new fast-charging technology that apparently supports higher than 40W power delivery.

The Magic 2 is expected to be announced in China on 31st October 2018, according to a teaser poster released by honor. In addition to the teaser poster, a teaser video was also released. The video gives us more clues on what to expect from the Magic 2. In this case, we can see that the rear camera is not hidden together with the front camera in the slide-out mechanism. We can also see that the rear camera is a dual-lens unit which will be interesting.

The video is only nine seconds long but it gives us enough of a glimpse to see that there appears to be no sign of a fingerprint scanner at the front or back of the Magic 2. This means that it is very likely that the honor Magic 2 will feature an in-display fingerprint scanner. 

So what are your thoughts on the honor Magic 2? Let us know in the comments down below.

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