We’ve seen phone makers coming up with creative ways to avoid the front-camera notch or hole, with the pop-up camera being an increasingly common option among Chinese phones, along with the flip-up camera. But now, it appears that Oppo has found a non-mechanical solution — an under-display selfie camera.
Oppo VP Brian Shen showed off a video (later posted to the company’s official Twitter account) demonstrating its under-display selfie technology. Despite there being no visible camera, the room’s roof appears on the phone’s screen, followed by someone’s finger when it’s waved above the handset.
Having a non-mechanical front camera solution means there’s no physical wear and tear, plus that’s one less piece of fragile part to worry about. That said, in a follow-up post, Shen admitted that this under-screen camera technology is still in its early days. “At this stage, it’s difficult for under-display cameras to match the same results as normal cameras, there’s bound to be some loss in optical quality,” Shen said. “But, no new technology jumps to perfection right away.”
Not wanting to be outdone, Chinese rival Xiaomi shared a clip showing its own in-display camera technology, which had been added to a Mi 9 prototype.
There’s no word on when this technology might make it into a commercial handset.
