Oppo One-Ups Samsung With World’s First Under-Screen Camera Tech

A Chinese smartphone company has created what it claims as the “world’s first” under-display selfie camera which eliminates the need for notches, hole punches, and sliding mechanisms.

Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has won over other smartphone companies in the race to create working front-facing cameras mounted beneath the display. The technology, which Oppo proudly calls “under-screen camera” (USC), has been unveiled at the recent MWC Shanghai event, MacRumors reported.

Oppo’s USC technology allows smartphone companies to create an all-screen front design while retaining the front camera, sans the need for on-screen obstructions or a sliding mechanism like that of the OnePlus 7 Pro. To do this, the camera is embedded beneath an area of the display which is made of a highly transparent custom material that allows light to pass through the display to the lens.

The camera itself is said to be larger than traditional selfie cameras, and has a wider aperture so that it can capture photos better. Oppo admitted that because the camera is placed beneath the display, it won’t be able to capture shots as clear as other selfie cameras that aren’t obstructed by a display panel, and might suffer from issues like haze, glare and color cast issues.

The Chinese smartphone maker, however, said it developed software algorithms that can deal with the said issues so that the USC can capture photos that are not lagging behind in quality compared to photos taken by cameras belonging to other mainstream devices.

So far, Oppo hasn’t announced a smartphone that will feature the new technology. The tech company, however, promises that it will launch a device that will feature an under-screen camera “in the near future.”

What about other smartphones?

Oppo might not be as popular as Apple or Samsung, but it’s a smartphone maker that has been making waves in the mobile camera scene. Earlier this year, Oppo unveiled the first-ever smartphone camera system to feature 10x optical zoom -- also beating the rumored 5x optical zoom camera Samsung is putting on the Galaxy Note 10.

Apple is also said to be working on a “quantum-dot” image sensor for this year’s upcoming iPhone models, Tom’s Guide reported. This camera, which was meant to be a next-gen upgrade to Apple’s smartphone, however, is reportedly cancelled as per The Telegraph.