Amazon Working On A 3D Smartphone – Could Be Unveiled As Early As June

Today’s smartphone market is heavily dominated by Apple and Samsung to name but a few manufacturers and with the competition getting more and more fierce as the weeks and months move on, getting a product out there that stands apart from everything else is getting increasingly harder. Samsung have, over the last few days, brought their latest handset, the S 5 to market and we are starting to get rumours trickle in about Apple’s upcoming iPhone, but there is something else lurking just around the corner that may just have a something a bit more special to offer and open up the smartphone market to a whole new league of mobile technology – and believe it or not, it has Amazon’s name on the top.

The Wall Street Journal has today reported that the online retail giant has got a few prototypes out there with some developers which could contain the building blocks needed to create a 3D image on the screen without the need for any form of glasses, instead manipulating the image that is on-screen to give a holographic effect. In addition to this four small cameras set in to the display would track the position of the users retinas in relation to the phone, with the image on-screen being manipulated to reflect the movement. This means that over some products such as Nintendo’s 3DS, the 3D effect would be apparent across a much wider viewing angle, giving a more in-depth experience.

In addition to being able to watch 3D content such as movies and games, the technology could be used to actually interact with the handset with one example being described as an auto zoom on images as you move the handset closer to you. Obviously the hardware needed to render and control this type of technology is not going to be rick bottom basic and whilst we don’t have any information on what specifications the handset may hold, word has it that the same manufacturer who produces the displays for Apple’s products – Japan Display, may be one of those who may win the contract to mass-produce the displays for the upcoming handset.

With an unveiling supposedly due around June time and a launch to market pencilled in for September, full-scale production will need to start soon with an expected 600,000 units expected to roll off the line from the end of April. In addition to the unknown launch dates we don’t have any word on pricing, although we know that there will not be a huge premium with all their current products retailing at cost price, with revenue coming though their app store via app, game and media sales.

Whether or not the phone will be a hit or not is an unknown entity and trying to break through the market dominators is not going to be an easy task, but if Amazon are able to pull this off, they could be one of the first names to bring a 3D handset in mass to the market.