Oppo shows off smartphone with under-screen selfie camera: How would it work?

What does the Under-Screen selfie camera achieve?

For smartphone makers, this new camera technology could make it much easier to get to the goal of a fully bezel-less display without relying on motorised selfie cameras or even 360-degree rotating parts. Oppo, vivo, Xiaomi, OnePlus Asus and even Samsung have all introduced such kinds of cameras on their phones, where they have tried to achieve a fuller screen.

In fact, Oppo was one of the first to introduce the motorised camera with their Find X. With their Oppo Reno series, the company is touting the new ‘Shark Fin’ style of pop-up selfies cameras.

Oppo says they will use a customised sensor with larger pixels for the new technology.

But the motorised camera, while allowing the edge-to-edge screen comes with the problem of wear and tear, especially if someone likes to take selfies multiple times a day. There’s also the risk of water and dust damage with such motorised parts, though companies will constantly tout how these parts have been tested thousands of times.

This could explain why Oppo and Xiaomi want to push the camera under the display, and remove this risk entirely. The front camera has been a major hurdle for companies trying the bezel-less design. With the original Mi Mix, Xiaomi placed the front camera at the bottom of the device as it tried to eliminate the top bezel. It continued this approach with Mi Mix 2, though with the Mi Mix 3, Xiaomi too went with a slide up option for the front camera.

So how will Oppo and Xiaomi’s under display camera work?

Oppo’s Under-Screen Camera (USC) will work like any other regular selfie camera, let users take photos, videos, and even rely on face unlock to open the smartphone. Oppo says it will be using a customized camera module for this kind of technology with a larger pixel size. The reason: this special camera will be capable of capturing more light, which will be crucial given the sensor is under the display. The higher the pixel size, the better the image quality.

Xiaomi had revealed that the front camera sensor would be 20MP in this under display technology.

Oppo is also applying what it calls as zoning control on the screen near the area where the under-screen camera sensor is placed. This area uses what Oppo calls as a “highly-transparent” material to ensure that light transmittance through the screen is increased at this particular part.

But this problem is not so simple as just letting light pass through the screen to the camera. There is the issue of glare when working with a camera, which is hidden under the display. Oppo claims it is using a customised algorithm, which can remove haze and get the white balance to be just right. Oppo is claiming the camera will support smart beauty mode and photo filters as well.

In Xiaomi’s case, too the company is proposing something similar. Xiaomi’s Senior Vice President Wang Xiang had posted details on Twitter, about how the camera technology would work. The company claims that all this technology has been developed in-house. The display has one part which can turn transparent when the camera is needed. Otherwise this functions as a normal display when a user is browsing content and looks completely seamless.

This transparent part of the display ensures high transmittance of light and is made with a special low-reflective glass, according to the company. Xiaomi also revealed that this would be a 20MP camera, though the final product might be something completely different when it comes to the megapixel count.

Xiaomi’s under display camera solution helps the brand get rid of the notch on the front.

The company has claimed the technology will ensure perfect, crisp selfies, even better than the pinhole camera solution. Xiaomi has not yet confirmed when it plans to introduce or showcase this on its smartphones.

So when will these under-screen cameras turn up in phones?

What Oppo has shown is proof-of-concept, not the final deal. There are a lot of questions around this new under-screen camera technology, and even Oppo acknowledges that the technology is far from ready. Both Oppo and Xiaomi’s final variant with such technology might not even come this year.

Oppo’s smartphone with the under screen camera at MWC 2019 in Shanghai.

Will these cameras really solve a problem?

Ever since the iPhone X launched, the market has been flooded with devices with various versions of the notch. Now, there’s a new race to get rid of the notch and change the front camera completely. The front of your device could soon be just the display with nothing else visible.

Of course, the notch on the iPhone XS and its immediate successors is unlikely to go away considering Apple has packed more than just the Face ID camera out there. For players like Oppo and Xiaomi to launch a phone with a new kind of camera on the front could once again prove that they are ahead in the innovation curb.

Coming to the front cameras on phones, they have drastically improved in the last two years across price segments. Users have come to expect a certain standard for their selfies. But most selfie cameras are nowhere as good as the rear camera in terms of low-light performance.

One major challenge for such cameras will be to ensure that the standard is maintained for selfie photos. Screen glare, camera angles, colours all of this will matter as smartphones try to hid that front camera under the display.