Usually, Chinese mobile manufacturers have been typed cast as not bringing major innovations,  but rather copy their western counterparts. But Vivo, with its innovative products, is looking to break that. The company that turned heads when it announced the first device with an in-display fingerprint scanner, went all out and created a device with a 98 percent screen-to-body ratio, the highest in the industry.

We are talking here about the Vivo APEX Concept phone, that was showcased by the company recently here, at the MWC. The company says that the APEX is an iteration of their constant pursuit if setting new industry standards along with delivering the ultimate mobile experience.

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Fingerprint scanner

And yes, just like the CES announced X20 Plus UD, this device also has a fingerprint sensor built under the display. But now the useable scanning area is no longer just a small portion of the screen, it now covers almost one-third of the screen, giving the advantage that to unlock the phone, tapping at a particular point is no longer needed giving much convenience to the user. The company is headlining it as ‘ Half Screen In- Display Fingerprint Scanning’. The scanner can be used to provide extra security by asking for dual fingerprints which may or may not be from the same person depending on the level of security desired.

Display

When looked at the front, the phone is a bit reminiscent of the Essential phone, but with even smaller bezels minus the front camera. Vivo has managed to reduce the bezels to 1.8mm around the top and the sides and 4.3mm at the bottom. All of this has been made possible thanks to their flexible OLED platform which enabled them to mount microchips directly into the flexible circuit board.

Workarounds

To accommodate this screen, the company had to find alternate ways to place the front camera and the earpiece, because it is a phone and at the end of the day, you to make calls too.

Front- Camera placement

The 8 MP front camera, is housed in a small pod which rises from the top of the phone, whenever the front camera is invoked, which surprisingly takes only 0.8 seconds to come out.

Earpiece

The traditional earpiece has been replaced by what Vivo is calling as the Screen SoundCasting technology, which basically transforms the entire display of the screen into a speaker. The vibrations are sent throughout the display, all thanks to an exciter wedged beneath the display.

The phone contains a traditional loudspeaker at the bottom also, and a dual-camera setup which seems more or less inspired by iPhone 8/ 8 Plus.

Release Date

As of this moment, Apex is only a concept phone, which no plans in Vivo to mass produce it. But whether it happens or not, the tech from this phone is sure to make its way to numerous devices in the coming months. At the time when the phones are becoming a bit dull, with not major innovative features coming to them, it is nice to see Vivo leading the change here and doing things out of the box.

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