Oppo recently teased the world’s first under-screen selfie camera smartphone and today the company has unveiled it. Saying good bye to notches or pop-up cameras begins today and this will lead to an increase in the screen-to-body ratio, and where to put critical components on devices that are dominated by their screens. In incorporating everything into the display is the ultimate solution for this, as we’ve already seen with fingerprint sensors — and selfie cameras are next.
Oppo, has been the first to demonstrate an under-screen selfie camera to the public at MWC Shanghai this week, after a tease earlier in the month. Oppo has also revealed more information about how the technology actually works.
The company says the display uses a custom transparent material that works with a redesigned pixel structure so that light can get through to the camera. The sensor itself is said to be larger than other selfie cameras, with a wider aperture lens in front.
The area of the screen reserved for the camera still works with touch control, and Oppo says display quality won’t be compromised — though hands-on photos from Engadget Chinese suggest the camera area is visible in certain conditions.
Oppo does acknowledge that putting a screen in front of a camera will bring some problems especially when it comes to a reduction photo image quality, with significant problems like haze, glare, and color cast needing to be overcome. The company says it’s developed algorithms that are tuned to the hardware in order to address these issues, and claims the quality is “on par with mainstream devices,” but we’ll have to see for ourselves what that means once the tech ships on a commercial phone.
