The first phone with a pinhole camera lands on December 17

2019 could be the year of the pinhole phone camera, by which we mean a circular cut-out for a camera in the screen. But at least one such handset is set to arrive before the end of 2018, as Huawei has announced that the Huawei Nova 4 with just such a camera is being announced on December 17.

We've seen the company tease the device a couple of times already, but the latest teaser image, posted to Weibo (a Chinese social network), gives more away.

It contains both the date December 17 and clearly shows a camera cut-out in the screen, where previous teasers had shown a beam of light or a black hole in the night sky.

Those teasers were never particularly subtle, and we had also seen a leaked image seemingly showing the Huawei Nova 4 itself, so there was little doubt that it would have a pinhole camera, but now that feature and the phone’s announcement date are confirmed.

This teaser leaves no doubt that the Nova 4 has a pinhole camera. (credit: Huawei/Weibo)

This teaser leaves no doubt that the Nova 4 has a pinhole camera. (credit: Huawei/Weibo)

The first but not the last

Aside from its unusual camera design we don’t know a whole lot about the Huawei Nova 4, but it’s rumored to have 6GB of RAM and the high-end Kirin 980 chipset (the same one as you’ll find in the Huawei Mate 20 Pro), so it could be a decent handset.

It’s worth noting though that it’s not yet clear whether you’ll be able to buy the Huawei Nova 4 outside China. But if not and you have your heart set on a phone with a pinhole camera you shouldn’t have too much longer to wait.

Both the Samsung Galaxy A8S and Lenovo Z5S are rumored to sport pinhole cameras of their own and are likely launch soon. And there’s a chance that the Samsung Galaxy S10 – a flagship phone likely to get a global launch in early 2019 – will also have a pinhole camera.

Via GSMArena

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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