Under-display cameras are the next step in the evolution of smartphones, it seems. Both Xiaomi and OPPO prototype smartphones with under-display camera units have been shown already, and it seems like Samsung is working on one such device as well.
In fact, Samsung will announce a smartphone with an under-display camera next year, it seems. This information comes from a well-known tipster, Ice Universe.
Under-display camera phone coming, but it’s not the Samsung Galaxy S11 or Fold 2
The source claims that the device in question is not the Galaxy S11, nor the Galaxy Fold 2. So, Samsung will either cram that camera inside the Galaxy Note 11, or perhaps announce a completely new series of devices for it. It is always possible that one of its mid-range phones will test it out first, from the Galaxy A series, for example.
We can only guess at this point, but it seems like it’s happening. Both Xiaomi and OPPO will probably be ready to announce such a phone in 2020 as well. In fact, it’s even possible that one of the two companies will present a phone with an under-display camera this year. Chances for that are not high, but we’ll see.
The Xiaomi Mi MIX 4 is expected to arrive before the end of 2019, so Xiaomi may include an under-display camera in that device. The Mi MIX 4 may actually be the perfect phone to debut such tech in. The only question is, how ready is Xiaomi’s under-display camera tech at this point.
Under-display cameras will essentially be selfie cameras that are hidden away, of course. Just like companies hidden away fingerprint scanners under displays, the same will happen with selfie cameras.
The technology is considerably different, though. Companies needed to find a way to make it possible for those cameras to shoot proper images through the display. It seems like it is way easier to figure out such technology for fingerprint scanners, than it is for cameras.
Samsung is not the only company working on such a phone
We’re sure that more companies are working on such technology (other than Samsung, Xiaomi, and OPPO), so who knows how many such phones we’ll see next year.
Under display cameras will allow companies to trim down bezels almost all the way, without including notches, display holes, or pop-up cameras.
This will, of course, not solve things for advanced facial scanning that Apple and Google are using. That is a whole different story.
We don’t know how Samsung’s tech will work, but we do know how Xiaomi’s does the job. Once you fire up the selfie camera, part of the display will go black (presumably power down), so that the under-display camera can do the job.
A lot of tweaking is necessary to make that happen, and a special OLED panel as well. We presume that other companies will take a similar approach, as it’s the only way to allow that camera do the job.