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.

Rather than use a notch cut out from the display for a camera, reducing the available screen real estate, Oppo’s new camera is found behind the display itself, allowing 100% of the front surface to be used for the screen.

When the camera is activated, the top portion of the display goes dark, allowing the camera to do its job.

The Under-screen Camera activated.

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 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.”

(via Oppo via The Verge)

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