The hype for a full-screen bezel-less display has been growing quite a lot in recent years. A couple of years ago we saw a display with a bar notch housing the front camera, then came the popular waterdrop style notch and now the trend is of hole-punch displays. However, in the next couple of years, we will see a completely different implementation. In the future, we will get more and more devices having an Under Display front camera.
What is an Under Display Camera?
Having an Under Display camera has its own challenges as the pixels on the display part right above the camera needs to go dead when the front camera is activated. Shutting down a particular section of the display is not an easy task but that is what the display manufacturers are currently working on. We will see phones with displays that temporarily turns off the pixels in a particular section for the front camera to come through and then turn those pixels back on again once you are done using the front camera.
As of now, this is not just a thing that we are just imagining for the future anymore though. We now have leaks and a bunch of information about a couple of devices to come with this revolutionary technology very shortly. So what are these phones? let’s find out.
Here is the list of Under Display Camera Phones
- ZTE Axon 30 5G
- Xiaomi Mi Mix 4
- ZTE Axon 20 5G
- Vivo Apex 2020 (Concept Phone)
Update August 2021: ZTE has launched the latest generation of Under Display Camera Phone dubbed the AXON 30. Xiaomi has also announced Mi Mix 4 with an Under Display camera. However, Xiaomi calls this CUP (Camera Under Panel) technology.
ZTE Axon 20 5G
ZTE Axon 20 5G is the first commercial smartphone that comes with a front camera embedded into the display. To make this possible, ZTE claims to have used “high transparency material that includes new organic and inorganic films” that allows for the front camera to work through the display. This is an upper-midrange device and despite this headline feature, there is nothing much special about this phone. We get a 6.92 FHD+ OLED display with an in-display fingerprint sensor and an Under Display 32MP camera built into it. Inside, we get the Snapdragon 765G which makes it a 5G compatible device and in terms of battery we get a decently sized 4,220 mAh battery. At the back, we get a 64MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultrawide sensor, a 2MP macro, and a 2MP depth sensor. As for the price, it is currently available to order in China right now starting at 2,198 yuan (~$320). There is no word about a global release date yet.
Vivo Apex 2020 (Concept Phone)
Lastly, we have the latest concept phone from Vivo, which won’t be coming to the market for an actual sale, but it does give us a preview of what to expect from Vivo in the near future. The Vivo Apex 2020 has a 120-degree curved edge 6.45 Display that gives it a full-screen viewing experience even with the sides. It does not feature any sort of ports or buttons on it. For charging the device, it provides support a 60W wireless charger, and to achieve a full-screen display with curved edges it uses a 16MP Under Display camera for selfies.
The cameras on the back are not just simple cameras either. The primary camera uses gimbal technology which produces 200% more stable pictures and videos in comparison to the OIS solution seen in current smartphones. There is also a 16MP telephoto lens which offers an actual optical zoom from 5x to 7.5x. The periscope zoom module uses moving lenses to achieve this. But as mentioned above, this is just a concept phone so it won’t come to any market. But we can expect Vivo to implement these unique features in their upcoming phones launching soon.
