Invisible selfie cameras are coming to smartphones soon… but what is all the fuss about? For the last few years, camera phone manufacturers have been trying to get the screen to cover as much of the front surface of the handset as they can. The dream of a true infinity screen without an edge to the display has been hampered up until now by the need to incorporate a front camera – the photo and video shooting device that you use when taking selfies.
The selfie camera breaks the screen… this used always to be in a strip along the top of the phone. But in recent years, the use of punch holes and notches in the display has allowed to minimize the intrusion of the camera in the display. The closest to creating an infinity screen has been by incorporating the selfie camera into a pop-up device – first seen on the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom.
Visionox promotional video showing renders of its sub-screen camera LED panel
ZTE now sounds like that it will be the first. Its president teased that its next 5G phone, the ZTE A20 5G will use the technology.
This phone may well not actually be released in North America and Europe – but we do know that other manufacturers are working on this tech. Chinese manufacturers Oppo and Xiaomi are likely to use the Visionox screen on phones later this year.
We also know that Samsung is also working on its own UDC – Under Display Camera – which is more likely to be sold widely in the West.
But what will the tech be like, when it does arrive? There are difficulties for the manufacturers to overcome, for sure. Will you be able to see where the camera is, when you are watching movies full-screen on your phone? And will the sub-screen construction of the camera and its lens affect the all-important quality of your selfies? For the moment, we have to wait to see the invisible camera for ourselves.
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