At MWC 2022, Oppo demoed a very impressive under-display camera prototype for our smartphones. The front camera was really almost invisible.
The camera under the Oppo screen is almost invisible // Source: Anthony Wonner – Frandroid
Under-display cameras are not commonplace, but they already exist in the smartphone market. After a first failed attempt by ZTE – most a priori a little corrected later –, Samsung has integrated one into its Galaxy Z Fold 3. For its part, Oppo has also been working on a prototype for a long time.
We were able to discover this one during the MWC 2022. The manufacturer was displaying a small screen on which ColorOS was running. An unsuspecting user might be surprised to see the presence of a camera app when they do not see any cameras in the back or front.
Oppo has hidden its camera well in the screen // Source: Anthony Wonner – Frandroid
To understand, he would then have to launch the app and realize that he can still take a selfie. Indeed, in the upper part of the screen hides a photo sensor. However, it is so well camouflaged that you really have to scrutinize the prototype from all angles to hope to distinguish its location.
A very well hidden camera
Until now, we were used to being able to identify the place where this kind of sensor was housed on a screen thanks to a particular arrangement of the pixels on the area concerned. You definitely need a lower pixel density to let the camera see through.
We have long sought to see the camera hidden in the screen // Source: Anthony Wonner – Frandroid
Oppo has hidden its camera well in the screen // Source: Anthony Wonner – Frandroid
On its prototype, Oppo managed to manage this arrangement of pixels so that the human eye perceives nothing, or almost nothing. Indeed, observing the phone almost in profile, we can see a small circle or the brightness of the screen is a notch below.
One of our rare images where you can see the location of the camera under the Oppo screen // Source: Anthony Wonner – Frandroid
But no one will ever hold their smartphone like this.
Image quality still to be refined
A great feat that bodes exciting projects in the future when Oppo will integrate this into a product dedicated to marketing. We have no information on this at the moment. There is also a major challenge: the image quality is still largely perfectible.
A selfie with the camera under the Oppo screen // Source: Anthony Wonner – Frandroid
It is difficult to analyze the selfies in the conditions of a living room as the light conditions are capricious. In addition, the prototype only allowed the use of a night mode. We first put it down to a makeshift firmware that was far from being finalized. However, it is possible that this mode is still essential for the front photo sensor thus hidden in the screen.
Indeed, if it is so well hidden, it may need a longer exposure time to be able to capture enough light to produce a photo. It should be noted that, for the moment, the selfies were relatively correct, but were limited in the management of colorimetry. In short, there is still work.
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