Ever since the iPhone X was introduced in 2017, people have complained about the camera notch. And while other manufacturers have found innovative ways to try to eliminate the notch, from pop-up mechanisms to in-screen pinhole cameras, nothing has felt like the perfect solution.

And now Oppo, which is trying to kill the notch, has another idea: a new patent published by 91mobiles shows a modular design that allows the rear camera to be removed for selfies. This also means that over time the phone's camera can be upgraded.

With the camera in place, the camera functions as usual, allowing users to take pictures with the back of the camera facing the subject. If you want to take a selfie, simply take out the camera module and point it at the subject to snap a picture.

The patent mentions NFC, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth for connectivity, but also shows that it has a USB Type-C connector that can be attached to the phone's charging port for a more conventional selfie experience.

All of these require a built-in lithium-ion battery, so the camera will work away from home. We imagine it would work like the S Pen on Samsung's Galaxy Note 20, which replenishes its charge when docked.

On paper, it is an idea with a lot of merit. Not only does this concept ditch the notch in a more practical way than past solutions (mechanical pop-up mechanisms have always added weight and raised questions about reliability), but the rear camera tends to have better specs than the front camera.

This means that, in theory, one should be able to take a better class of selfie from such a phone. It also means that in the future it may be possible to upgrade phones with better camera modules.

Nonetheless, the history of modular phones is not a particularly happy one. Take, for example, the LG G5, a handset that allowed users to physically clip their G5 "friends" onto the handset and enhance its functionality with add-ons.

Only a handful of such friends were made, and by the time the LG G6 appeared, this attempt was abandoned.

A more successful, if not commercial success, in terms of longevity and user-friendliness was Motorola's Moto Mods, which attached magnetically to the back of the Moto Z phone and could add party speakers, better cameras, gaming grips for gaming, and more. However, since the Moto Z4 last year, no Moto Mods-compatible handsets have appeared, so that has probably disappeared as well.

Oppo's idea is interesting. But there are other, simpler ways to kill the notch. Such as a camera under the display that disappears when not in use. [For example, the ZTE Axon 20 5G has already been announced and will be available on December 21. This 6.9-inch Android phone will likely not be available in the U.S., but is expected to be available in the U.K., EU, Japan, and other regions.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 was rumored to feature an under-display camera, but leaked information has since pointed to the same punch-hole design as before.

Still, an under-display camera seems like a foregone conclusion as opposed to a true innovation, and even if Oppo can't bring this modular concept to life in a phone, it will be exciting to see at least one company try.