This smartphone ditches a pop-up camera for two screens

Just half a year after it delivered a smartphone with a pop-up selfie camera, Vivo is prepared to launch a follow-up version of the NEX. But this time, it looks like it won’t have a hidden lens. Instead it might have a second screen.

The teaser, revealed in a Weibo post on Monday, matches with previous leaks suggesting that the new NEX will have a display on the back and a triple rear camera. The setup means users can take selfies with the rear lenses, eliminating the need for a traditional front-facing selfie camera. And just like the original NEX, the upcoming handset also has a nearly edge-to-edge front screen (and a narrow chin at the bottom).

In a separate post that’s since been deleted, Vivo’s senior vice president Alex Feng revealed another look at the upcoming handset. You can see an illuminated ring circling two of the cameras. Some reports believe that it will light up in various colors while you’re taking a selfie -- something that matches the teaser.

Vivo isn’t the first company to have a dual-screen handset. ZTE sub-brand Nubia already has one that went on sale last month. The design is one of the many creative solutions that phone makers have come up with to put as big a screen as possible on the front.