Vivo patent shows a smartphone with its own built in flying drone camera
As tech miniaturises concepts like this become increasingly feasible... and many more.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2022) 'Vivo patent shows a smartphone with its own built in flying drone camera', 311 Institute, 18 February. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/vivo-patent-shows-a-smartphone-with-its-own-built-in-flying-drone-camera/ (Accessed: 8 October 2026).
Everyone loves drones. Everyone loves smartphones. And everyone loves cameras. And soon you might be able to get all of these in a single awesome gadget – that is if a new patent showing a “detachable camera module that can fly like a drone” from Vivo gets the green light.
We all know that in time almost all tech gets smaller, lighter, more performant, and cheaper and this is a great example of that trend in action. According to a LetsGoDigital report, the Chinese tech giant filed the patent images for the smartphone a while ago and as you can see it appears to have a design similar to a modern smartphone but something is unique about the camera that will be housed on the handset’s bottom part.
When the camera pops out from the device, its four propellers make it capable of flight, and it comes equipped with its own battery and three embedded infrared proximity sensors to make sure it doesn’t hit anything.
Furthermore, as all operations are entirely on the smartphone, in case of low power, charging the phone will charge the camera battery simultaneously, and as the flying camera has to be both light and small, the flight distance will probably be limited.
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As tech miniaturises concepts like this become increasingly feasible... and many more.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
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Sources and further reading
- Vivo smartphone drone camera en.letsgodigital.org
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 18 February 2022. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2022). Vivo patent shows a smartphone with its own built in flying drone camera. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/vivo-patent-shows-a-smartphone-with-its-own-built-in-flying-drone-camera/
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