According to AppleInsider, they’ve stumbled across a patent filed by Apple that suggest that the company might have figured out a way to include a camera in the Apple Watch, and that is by hiding it in the screen itself. The patent describes a display system where one layer can be used to show the actual contents of the screen, while the other layer can act as a blocker of sorts to hide other components, like the camera, when not in use.
According to the patent’s description, “An electronic device may be provided with a two-stage display. The display may have an inner layer with a pixel array for displaying images and an outer layer formed from a light modulator with an array of cells that can each be placed in a transparent mode or a light-blocking mode.”
What’s interesting about this patent is that it seems that it could also be applicable for devices like the iPhone, where it could be used to house the front-facing camera and other sensors while hiding itt and getting rid of the notch.