OnePlus Concept Phone 'Disappearing Cameras' explained: How Company Manages to Hide Rearcam

OnePlus has been teasing its concept phone for a long time and has now revealed it at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The device’s USP is that it comes with cameras that only appear when the camera app on the phone is triggered and is hidden by black glass when it is off.

The company has been working on the device for a long time, with carmaker McLaren. The concept of glass turning opaque and hiding the cameras is actually borrowed from McLaren. The glass covering the cameras turns opaque to hide the cameras when they are not in use and becomes transparent if the camera app is triggered.

The glass opacity is a feature that was previously showcased on the sunroof of the McLaren 720S Spider – when current passes through the glass, it becomes transparent and showcases things on the other side of it. It is electricity conducting photochromic glass or an electrophotochromic glass, which responds to electric current by turning transparent.

The glass also works in a way similar to how sunglasses function– it adds an ND filter, which helps determine the exposure of the camera while taking videos. It is a neat trick, which makes the phone seem more attractive and unusual, especially given the ugly camera bump on phones such as the OnePlus 7T. The glass also acts as protection for the lens.

It is interesting to note that OnePlus has taken the McLaren technology and been successful in creating a wafer-thin version of its sunroof glass and use it in a smartphone. However, it also comes with an additional concern– the glass could scratch and cause issues in image capture.

Since this is a concept phone, there is no guarantee that the device actually makes it to the market. But, given the consumer interest in the device, OnePlus could showcase the feature in an upcoming device. However, it shows how even a little innovation can make a huge difference, especially in a time when it has become difficult for a smartphone to differentiate it – most phones look like clones of each other.