A new report claims that Samsung Galaxy S11 can get three selfie shooters. A newly unearthed patient, filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), hints at these plans. Since the South Korean giant introduces major changes every two years, it remains to be seen if we will see the upgraded pinhole display next year.
Unlike most Chinese vendors, who copied the Essential PH-1’s notched design that gain fame with Apple’s iPhone X, Samsung has steered clear of cutouts. Instead, the chaebol went for a pinhole display for its 2019’s flagships. The Galaxy S10 Plus and S10 5G feature two punch holes, one for the main camera and one for a depth sensor.
The Additional Punch Hole On The Galaxy S11 Might Be Used To House Face Unlocking Equipment
With three holes in the display, the Galaxy S11 will be able to accommodate three shooters. However, it wouldn’t make much sense to employ three sensors for a selfie. What makes more sense is housing 3D face unlock components in the display. This will help the company better compete with Huawei and Apple. Another probability is that the existing front sensors will be retained and they will be joined by a gesture sensor.
Large companies like Samsung register numerous patents each year and some of them just collect dust. Thus, there are no guarantees that the design shown in the patent will be commercialized. That being said, a trusted Samsung tipster who uses the handle @UniverseIce on Twitter had previously implied that the South Korean giant is going to shrink its punch-hole camera from 4mm to just 1mm within the next couple of years.
If the company achieves this, it can actually fit more sensors in the same footprint. This way, the photography chops of its upcoming handsets will increase without any compromise on the screen-to-body ratio. This ties in nicely with the patent, which hints at large screen estate and slim bezels.
Under-Display Sensor Is The Ultimate Goal
Of course, ultimately the company is expected to introduce the under-display camera technology. This will involve integrating the selfie cameras within the display. Xiaomi and OPPO have already teased such a system. However, Samsung will apparently take its sweet time to perfect the technology.
That doesn’t mean that the wait will be long. Last year, the company reportedly gave a presentation on the technology behind closed doors in China. Vice President of the manufacturer’s display R&D group, Yang Byung-duk, has also confirmed its working on a screen-embedded front camera. Of course, we wouldn’t want Samsung to rush through the process. After all, this is what it did with the Galaxy Fold and we all know that did not go well.
The Galaxy flagships usually get major upgrades every two years. Thus, we do not think that the specced out handsets from the Galaxy S11 range will have three selfie cameras. However, if that does happen, the entry-level models will potentially get two front cameras.
While we are on the topic of cameras, it’s worth mentioning that the upcoming S series phone is tipped to feature 5x optical zoom. In fact, its camera system is rumored to be groundbreaking. We can expect to hear more specific details in the coming months.