Essential and Apple were the first two manufacturers in 2017 to apply a ‘notch’ to their smartphones. It was the start of a true revolution; away with the screen edges, at the same time, the smartphone screens have become bigger and bigger. In the case of the OnePlus 7 Pro, which contains one of the largest smartphone screens, we are already talking about a 6.67-inch screen. Unfortunately, it is not the nicest development that smartphones have gone through: a square black bar at the top of the screen is simply not that attractive. Fortunately, this frantic attempt to make smartphone screens ‘virtually borderless’ will soon come to an end.
Under-display selfie camera
A video from OPPO on Twitter makes it clear that the company is working on a selfie camera that is under the screen. To prove that the device in the video actually contains the camera under the screen, OPPO is the first to show a ‘normal’ image on the screen. Then when you open the camera app, you see that there is an animation around the selfie camera. Whether such animation will actually appear when manufacturers such as OPPO market devices with such cameras is still unknown. IceUniverse, a well-known Twitter person, indicates that ‘in 2019 there will be no devices with an under-display selfie camera’.
For those seeking the perfect, notchless smartphone screen experience – prepare to be amazed. 📲
You are taking a very first look at our under-display selfie camera technology. RT! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/FrqB6RiJaY
— OPPO (@oppo) June 3, 2019
This is a working prototype, an OPPO employee moves his finger over the camera to show that there really is a camera under the screen. Xiaomi would also be working on this technology and also placed a video on which the function can be seen working.
Work on this technology started quite a while ago, during the OLED forum in 2018 it was announced that under-display selfie cameras were the next step in the further development of OLED screens. OLED proved to be suitable for placing cameras underneath, for example, optical fingerprint scanners make use of camera sensors that take place under the screen.
