The world of mobile phones was scraping off what was left on the scalp of its head when it comes to figuring out a way to hide the front-facing camera.
Every mainstream manufacturer tried their best to integrate the notch, that was introduced by the iPhone X, into their phones without reducing the screen size.
What came after were a multitude of ideas that famously sought to get rid of the notch. Slider cameras, flipping cameras, punch holes, all came into play.
However, things seem to change for good as top-selling mobile brand in India, Xiaomi and Chinese giant Oppo, have come up with a solution for ridding the notch from the smartphone world.
It is rather interesting that both manufacturers have come to the same conclusion at the same time.
Their idea is the ‘under-display camera’. A setup that will see cameras embedded under the display, a world first of such a packaging method.
Both Xiaomi and Oppo have posted videos showing a prototype device that showcase how the technology works.
‘Do you want a sneak peek at the future? Here you go… introducing you to Under-Display Camera technology!,’ Xiaomi tweeted.
Oppo, on the other hand, said in its social media page: ‘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!’
Xiaomi showed off a Mi 9 prototype with the technology, while Oppo in its video showed a prototype that manages to click photos via the camera that is integrated into the display.
It will be interesting to see if manufacturers take up this technology and use the camera as part of the display. Essentially, the camera will have to display everything a conventional display would, while also taking images and videos on demand.
It is also yet to be seen if the cameras will be able to stop prying eyes from taking advantage of the users’ mobile phone as spying by using mobile cameras has become common. Also, it is yet to be revealed what components are being used to put the camera under the display screen as well.
Media reports state that Xiaomi has filed a patent in China to use a display that has two different portions – one with a photosensitive capacitor and another one without it, both featuring different drivers to allow the transmission of light to camera sensors.
The technology will also be available to other phone brands under the parent company BBK Corporation, state reports. The Chinese company has been a pioneer in inventing new methods to play around the camera in its efforts to reach the true bezel-less phone, it adds.
The firm has, in the past, experimented with different mechanisms such as the sliding camera, double displays on a phone, and the recently introduced swing-flap camera.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
AMD has reentered the mobile phone graphics market with a development and licensing contract with Samsung Electronics.
According to reports, the AMD IP is to be taken for use in Samsung’s Exynos mobile System-on-Chip (SoC) processors.
With this deal, Samsung is making a significant investment to upgrade its graphic performance for future Exynos processors. For Samsung, this is a repudiation of the Arm Mali graphics IP that it has been using since 2014 – in the high-end of its SoC products.
The deal marks a return of AMD to the smartphone graphics business, after it had sold the Imageon graphics business to Qualcomm in 2009. The Imageon graphics products became the basis for Qualcomm’s Adreno graphics used in its Snapdragon processors (Adreno is an anagram of Radeon).