All screen phones are considered Holy Grail in the smartphone industry. And in the pursuit of pushing the screen to body ratio, smartphone makers are chopping off the bezels as much as they can. In that run, we saw smartphones with notched display, which has shrunk down to the shape of a water drop in the recent days. Concurrently, companies were also implementing pop-up style selfie cameras. Since such mechanical parts can arise complications over time and durability is also quite a concern, Such design didn’t actually turn out as an optimal solution. But what Oppo showcased in the MWC Shanghai 2019 is, in fact, the solution everyone was looking for. To bid farewell to the bezels and to get rid of the elevating mechanism, Oppo showcased an under-display selfie camera, which seamlessly blends into the display.
Earlier this month, the selfie expert had teased the product. But this time around, Oppo divulged more information about the technology to the general audience.
OPPO’s brand new solution for full-screen display – Under-screen Camera (USC) has just been unveiled here at #MWC19 Shanghai! #MoreThanTheSeen pic.twitter.com/k5qEQ3QNta
— OPPO India (@oppomobileindia) 26 June 2019
Oppo India’s official Twitter handle also posted about the product. The video shows the selfie camera being perfectly blended into the screen when the camera is idle. However, while looking up close, the area about the camera looks somewhat pixelated. According to Oppo, that pixelated or zoned-out area of the screen uses a highly transparent material plus a redesigned pixel structure to let the light pass easily through it. Oppo claims that even the conventional displays, which are compatible with in-display fingerprint scanners are still not good enough for the under-display selfie camera. So the company developed a new type of display with transparency properties such that the camera conceals easily under the display.
Oppo is also flaunting about the size of the sensor used in its under-display selfie camera module. It’s said to be larger with bigger pixels than all the selfie cameras out there. On top of that, Oppo has also incorporated a wider aperture to let in more light into the sensor. Despite the large sensor and wider aperture, the upper portion of the screen still works with touch control. Oppo has also assured that there won’t be any sorts of compromises on the display quality.
Putting the screen on top of cameras is definitely going to have some implications like hazy photos, glares, colorcast, and reduced image quality. To overcome some issues, Oppo says it has developed algorithms that are tuned to the hardware in order to address these issues. The company has also assured the quality would be on par with the mainstream devices. But it’s yet to be seen. And we might only be able to see that when the device makes it to the commercial market. But when the company is releasing the device we don’t know yet. Oppo says it plans to launch a device with an under-screen camera “in the near future”.
The company had also showcased the Oppo Reno 10X Zoom at the trade show and released the commercial product shortly after. So we can expect it to be a similar case on this one.
