Samsung is working to insert a front camera hidden under the display of the Galaxy S30. Here’s how the technology is supposed to work
We’ve been talking about it for a long time, but no smartphone and tablet manufacturer has succeeded yet: the camera integrated under the display. No longer in the frame, no longer in the hole or in the notch, but right under the screen so that the latter can extend over the entire available surface, without interruption.
A dream? At the moment yes, otherwise some of the big names in the industry would have presented this solution on a commercial scale. According to the well-known leaker Ice universe, however, Samsung is working on it and could use this technology on its next top-of-the-line smartphone. That is, the Samsung Galaxy S21 (or S30, the official name is still unknown). Ice universe, however, also says that at the moment the Korean giant would be evaluating the technical feasibility of the camera under the screen, so there would be no decision on that yet. But what will this Samsung smartphone with the hidden camera look like? Perhaps the answer we can only give us a competitor: Oppo.
Hidden camera under the screen: how it works
Of course of the camera positioned under the display of Samsung at the moment there are no technical details, nor prototypes to analyze. Of prototype with this technology, however, one was seen in December 2019 during the Oppo Innovation Day. The technology uses an ultra-thin transparent material, combined with a special placement of the screen pixels at the camera, which allows light to pass through the glass and into the lens.
This solution has the merit of making notch and bezel unnecessary, but it also has a major limitation: since little light passes through, for photos to be of sufficient quality, it is necessary to use a larger sensor with a larger aperture. In addition, the pixel square that covers the camera is slightly visible at certain angles. The only display technology currently compatible with this solution would seem to be OLED.
Why the hidden camera is important
Hiding the front camera under the screen is important because it’s the only way (if you exclude the pop-up camera) to keep the selfie camera without sacrificing a single square centimeter of the screen. It’s not just a matter of design, but also of overcoming current limitations: today’s smartphone cameras increase the quality of the image taken mainly through artificial intelligence, because it’s not possible to integrate larger, more sensitive and detailed photo sensors because they would steal additional screen space. A hidden camera, on the other hand, can be any size because you can’t see it. Provided, however, that the cover is then truly invisible.