Oppo Unveils the World’s First Under-Screen Selfie Camera
Chinese smartphone makers Oppo and Xiaomi both teased under-screen selfie cameras earlier this month, but Oppo just beat Xiaomi to the punch in officially announcing and demonstrating it.
When the camera is activated, the top portion of the display goes dark, allowing the camera to do its job.
On display to the public at MWC Shanghai, Oppo’s Under-screen Camera (USC) uses a special transparent material with a redesigned pixel structure that allows light to pass through and hit the camera, which features a large sensor and wide aperture for maximum light-gathering abilities.
In addition to functioning as part of the display, the special camera area of the screen is all fully touch sensitive like the rest of the display.
While placing a display in front of a camera rather than a fully-transparent piece of glass will inevitably reduce image quality by introducing haze and color casts, Oppo has created algorithms to counteract those things in software, resulting in photos that Oppo claims are “on par with mainstream devices.”
OPPO's brand new solution for full-screen display – Under-screen Camera (USC) has just been unveiled here at #MWC19 Shanghai! #MoreThanTheSeen pic.twitter.com/k5qEQ3QNta
— OPPO India (@oppomobileindia) June 26, 2019
The algorithms behind our USC technology showcased at #MWC19 include haze removal, HDR and white balance resulting in a bezel-less phone, yet with a selfie camera that rivals current smartphones in the market today. #MoreThanTheSeen pic.twitter.com/yTpWgIMLmA
— OPPO (@oppo) June 26, 2019
Oppo hasn’t given an exact date on which its Under-screen Camera will be launched in a smartphone, but the company says it’ll arrive “in the near future.”
