ZTE files another patent for a dual-notch smartphone

ZTE and its smartphone isn't going through a good phase right now. With a ban from buying Qualcomm chips already in effect and rumors about losing the license to use Android, it seems like its whole smartphone business is in big trouble. The company, however, doesn't seem to have lost hope and continue to work on new designs.

In a latest patent filing with China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), ZTE seems to be working on a new handset that sports a pair of nothces on the screen. This is company's second filing for a dual-notched design. The newly submitted sketches show some notable diferences from the previous filing. Unlike the ZTE Iceberg, the new design resembles a lot of the Essential PH-1 phone. The top part only houses the front facing camera module. While on the bottom the notch hold what appears to be a home button/fingerprint reader.

Though, this goes without saying that the patents do not always make it to the production stage. But, considering ZTE's ongoing issues with the US government, we can expect one of these devices to come out in mid-2019, if they make it to production stage.

In February, top US intelligence officials warned Americans not to use smartphones from Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE. According to a CNBC report, the heads of CIA, FBI, NSA and the director of national intelligence expressed these concerns during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.

"We're deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don't share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks," FBI Director Chris Wray was quoted as saying. "It provides the capacity to maliciously modify or steal information. And it provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage," Wray added.

"Huawei is trusted by governments and customers in 170 countries worldwide and poses no greater cybersecurity risk than any ICT vendor, sharing as we do common global supply chains and production capabilities," Huawei said in response of the reports.

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"The focus of my concern is ... Chinese telecoms like Huawei and ZTE ... are widely understood to have extraordinary ties to the Chinese government," Republican Senator Richard Burr, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was quoted as saying.