Back in 2017, Apple’s design boss Jony Ive revealed to the world what the perfect iPhone design would look like, at least in his eyes. According to Ive, its appearance would “appear like a single sheet of glass.” The idea of an iPhone with no seams or other design elements that might interrupt its smooth lines is certainly exciting. The display on the front might appear to have no borders as it curves around to the back of the phone, and things like cameras and other sensors would be hidden behind the glass.
An iPhone design like that might seem as though it’s far-fetched, but it’s actually not some futuristic, sci-fi vision of a smartphone. Instead, we’re likely just a few years away from seeing all of those design elements become a reality. Bezels have already almost been completely eliminated by smartphone makers, and Apple patents reveal that the company is indeed working on ways to hide cameras and other sensors behind the display. But despite the fact that Apple is still at least a few years away from making this type of design a reality, another company might have just come closer than anything we’ve ever seen before.
Ice Universe is a formerly anonymous leaker who is best known for revealing unannounced information about unreleased Samsung smartphones. His track record speaks for itself, and he is responsible for more accurate leaks than anyone else in the recent past. Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S10 series is currently his main target, and he has posted all sorts of info on Twitter in recent months. Ice Universe still finds time for other scoops though, and on Thursday morning he set his sights on an exciting new smartphone no one has ever heard of before.
According to a series of leaks posted by Ice Universe on Twitter, this mysterious new phone is codenamed “The Waterdrop,” and it will soon be released by Chinese smartphone maker Vivo. That’s terrible news for tech fans in the United States, of course, because Vivo phones aren’t sold here. We can still appreciate what appears to be a paradigm shifting design though, and images posted by Ice Universe apparently give us our first look at this exciting new phone.
Crazy phone have begun to leak, it is said that this is vivo a mysterious smartphone code-named "The Waterdrop", this phone will subvert people's past perception of smartphones, this is the back of the phone design, play your imagination.
Coming soon！ #CES2019 pic.twitter.com/TNN1ht5NVZ— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) January 10, 2019
Here’s a closer look at that image (click to see the picture at full size):
According to a separate tweet from Ice Universe, the design was inspired by “cosmic detector in the novel ‘Three-body,'” and it’ll be unlike any other smartphone on the market. “I can guarantee that you have never seen a similar phone design, this is the first time in the history of mobile phones,” he posted.
Here’s a second image of the phone:
vivo "The Waterdrop" second photo, side view, what did you find? pic.twitter.com/1XZdPd7xKq
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) January 10, 2019
And once again, a closer look at that photo:
Unfortunately, Ice Universe made no mention of when Vivo’s “The Waterdrop” phone might be released or even announced. Suffice it to say we’ll be waiting with bated breath.
