The current trend in smartphones these days is seeing how small manufacturers can make the bezel. Apple notoriously ditched its infamous home button that also allows an almost all screen design save for the notch at the top for the Face ID facial recognition system. Lenovo is trying to one up everybody by teasing a truly "all-screen" phone.
Lenovo's Vice President Chang Cheng teased a sketch of the Lenovo Z5 on Weibo, China's social media network. The sketch itself shows a phone with an impressive ultra-thin bezel that an earlier tease claimed has a 95 percent screen-to-body ratio. Cheng added that the Z5 would have significant technological breakthroughs supported by at least 18 patents.
What's not clear from the sketch is how the Z5 will handle the front facing camera, sensors, and earpieces. The Vivo Apex has a pop up camera but still has a chin for the display driver. Both the iPhone X and Essential Phone contain "notches" for their respective cameras. As far as the rest of the sensors, ultrasound proximity sensors and piezoelectric could be a viable technology. Fingerprint sensors embedded into the display are also a distinct possibility like the Vivo X20 Plus UD.
All-screen phones are the holy grail of current smartphone trends and up until now, no OEM has been able to create an actual ultra-thin smartphone without making some sacrifice. We'll see if Lenovo's 18 patented technologies can crack the code.