Xiaomi's VP explains why under-screen cameras aren't coming anytime soon

29 January 2020
It seems like we won't see the tech on any commercial products soon.

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  • abc_to_xyz
  • 6Qe
  • 01 Feb 2020

geek-a-contra, 01 Feb 2020I mean NO self camera at all, no hidden / flipping / otherw... moreAgree! There should be a no-selfie camera phone option atleast. I barely use it yet I will be getting an S10+ with huge ugly pill for that.

    Anonymous, 29 Jan 2020Nubia X, Nubia Z20, Vivo Nex dual display, Samsung A80, Asu... moreI mean NO self camera at all, no hidden / flipping / otherwise hiding self cameras

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      • AnonD-909757
      • 0JM
      • 30 Jan 2020

      YUKI93, 30 Jan 2020You know what? Just do what Sony did with the 2019 Xperia, ... moreTrue, after pop up camera who have the advantage for privacy, a decently sized bezel is my second favorite option (if I have to have a camera facing me I prefer one I can hide without dealing with the tactile, having the advantage of lots of additionals sensors and not destroying the display just to make it appear bigger, i'd rather sacrifice a small but straight band on top of the display that don't cause conflict with notifications and such), followed with underdisplay camera, then notch and finally my worst enemy the punch hole.
      Another great example is some recent Meizu phones, like the Meizu Zero, or the Meizu 16 serie (16th, 16th Plus, 16, 16T, 16S, 16S Pro and 16Xs) all have a really small bezel, through they stupidly still follow all the restrictions the notches have put and only put a single damn camera on it rather than taking the advantage of loading it with useful sensors...There is more than enough space for basically every kind of front facing equipments :
      Ambient Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Dual camera, IR camera, UV camera, Dot projectors, Alternative laser scanning or grid projection method, floodlight, eyes scanner, larger and high power/bass optimised speaker.
      Even on their higher end version of the 16 they didn't put anything else than a tiny single camera and a really small speaker, that's really stupid.
      Also there is the bottom bezel, I personally would prefer that they use a single one on top, my girlfriend on the other hand just said she prefer having it symmetrical as it give a balance to the aesthetic.

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        • Anonymous
        • tEq
        • 30 Jan 2020

        Anonymous, 30 Jan 2020Meizu pro 7 plusOh.. yes, that's exactly what I meant but Meizu pro 7 plus also has front camera but yeah this can be a best example to get rid of front camera

          Take as much sweet time as you can...just get it done!

          Down with the so called 'stepping stones'!!!

            You know what? Just do what Sony did with the 2019 Xperia, no need to worry about ppi or light density issue. Just a sensibly-sized top bezel to put the camera and the speaker and no chin, that's all.

            I'm so glad that Sony didn't jump the all-screen bandwagon for the sake of being trendy. I know that there are a lot of smartphones out there with far better value for money, but I still maintain that 2019 Xperia models are the most beautiful looking Android phone to date.

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              • Lumina
              • RN5
              • 30 Jan 2020

              AnonD-909757, 30 Jan 2020Underdisplay camera even though they allow for fullscreen e... moreGood read. IMO, GSMArena needs to feature this as a "opinion" post in the news section or something similar to that.

                Of course it's not ready. They copied apple's patent from 2016 which featured a phone that partially inspired the design of the Xiaomi Alpha. A patent that featured a under-the-screen camera and a haptic feeder Huawei decided to adopt. If the technology was ready apple would have already done it, but these companies saw an opportunity because most of them are barely keeping their heads above water while the big ones are looking for any angle to put their brand on the same level as apple. They could care less whether or not the technology is ready. All of this is designed to increase their brand recognition while they figure it out.

                  Anonymous, 29 Jan 2020Is it true or just an excuse to not move to QHD? actually from my point of view, FHD+ is not all that bad. QHD or even 4K screen on smartphone is nice, but not neccessary. The promise of QHD or 4K display on smartphone is for VR usage, but even now VR on smartphone is not great

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                    • AnonD-909757
                    • 0JM
                    • 30 Jan 2020

                    Underdisplay camera even though they allow for fullscreen experience are a poor solution, we need ourselves to be hidden from the camera, not the camera to be hidden from us.
                    Also, how will those come with face unlock ? Most advanced methods are automatically impossible, IR camera and dot projectors will lose too much informations and floodlight is simply not possible, actually even regular camera won't get enough data to really securely identify someone, because the supposedly clear image from the prototype phone is actually heavily rendered through post treatment but the raw image that is required for face unlock actually have poor quality for such use.
                    Ambient light and proximity sensors need to get back, only the stupid notch and hole trends killed them, they are more effective, precise and more energy efficient than the camera and are faster thanks to no image analysis requirement and don't cost much anyway to add, but underscreen camera trend will continue to bury those useful sensors.

                    Pop up or similar solution where the camera is hidden through a moving thing is the best solution, not only it automatically allow for real full screen experience without having a butchered display or a poor quality camera, but also it protect the camera when not in use, but most importantly, it protect our privacy, I truly hate having a camera up my face when I don't use it, mainly with something as insecure as Android phones where not a single week goes by without a news article on privacy breach.

                    Also I hate all those peoples saying that it is fragile and other completely false claims :
                    _Not only the pop up is really durable, the OnePlus 7(T) Pro for example proved that the camera can last AT LEAST for 300,000 use, literally this mean that at 100 cycle of pop up per days, it will last 8 damn years ! Oled will have burnin and the battery will be dead before that, those kind of mechanical system are actually really simple and can last for decades, and for a while we thrusted more the simple mechanical systems than electronics, there is just a recent trend where peoples hate anything that have even the slightest wear as if they are planning to keep it functional for 50 years, but guess what, electronic components also have wear, not a mechanical one, but that's the reason why an SSD don't last eternally.
                    _On drop test where the phone is not just dropped but slammed against the ground, they showed excellent survivability on most phone, more than the display itself, actually thanks to spring loaded mechanism, it can cushion the phone and actually save it from worse damages.
                    _A lot of phone with pop up showed no permanent damages when accidentally dropped on water, hell the OnePlus 7(T) Pro could even almost be certified IP67 water and dust resistant and that's considering that actually no particular efforts or planning toward extreme waterproofing have been done, and it could actually still be done quite easily, so yeah, it clearly survive EASILY an accidental drop on water, except if you plan to drop it on a 1m deep water for more than 1h30, in which case a lot of non pop up phone will be lost too, except if you want a damn submarine phone, pop up have more than enough water resistance on most of the models that have one.
                    _Same with dust, actually the same thing could be said about USB and Jack port, yet people cry when they are removed (USB port WILL be removed in the future), you'll need to live in an incredibly dusty environment to actually have damage through dust, the pop up opening is tight and most of the dust don't penetrate and those who stick on the camera will, well, simply keep sticking on it, it won't magically unstick inside your phone to accomplish an evil plan to destroy your device.
                    Even the little that get inside will basically simply want to get out too the same way it came it, the pop up mechanism is not made to basically throw every dust particles sticking on the pop up to the inside of the phone, also considering that some computer are still running fine while having more dust inside their case than entire house have, is it really THAT dramatic that a little bit of dust can POTENTIALLY get it ?
                    _Some say it is slow...It is lightning fast even for face unlock, the OnePlus 7T unlock faster with his camera including the pop up time than the OnePlus 6 unlock from its fingerprint scanner, the same as it actually will be as fast from the power button press to unlock the phone as you starting to move your finger to the fingerprint scanner or drawing your pattern.

                    And alongside the privacy advantages, when done well, if inspirations from the Oppo Find X is taken, it can actually allow to both have a fullscreen experience combined with a real and secure face unlock technology, as the stupid notches and punch holes allow for one, maximum two camera, a total waste of potential while dot projectors, ir camera and other tech exist, yet peoples (probably the same complaining about pop up anyway) also complain that those notches or punch hole smartphone with a SINGLE camera have an easy to fool face unlock tech.

                    So could you, peoples, now please stop to making completely false claims concerning pop up mechanisms, the only thing that happen from that is that a lot of phone that would have this awesome feature are missing because all those negative comments from peoples who don't know what they talk about which give to manufacturers a false impression that the system have bad reputation or is unwanted, actually it is totally false, only the same peoples constantly talk against that, and for what ? The sake of punch holes and notches ? Seriously ? Have you recently looked at the list of the lasts released devices ? It's only full of holes and notches, only a handful numbers of phone have alternatives like bezels or pop up, so what do you want ? You already have over 95% of the market full of your non pop up devices, don't come and make ours disappear because you are afraid of something you don't understand, letting the pop up becoming more popular WON'T cause every smartphones to have one, you'll still have your butchered display to enjoy released on the majority of the devices.

                    Funnily enough, not only there are more peoples saying that the pop up is fragile, will break, is not durable than actual reports of any failure, but it is actually quite hard to find any report of failure of those, I am actually convinced there are more peoples saying that the pop up will fail than the number of pop up mechanisms that have actually failed.
                    I am even sure some idiots are against pop up mechanisms because of the "wear" while actively supporting and liking foldable smartphones...
                    Meanwhile those against the pop up probably don't have any experience with it and may not even have seen a single one, try and find actual pop up owners that are disappointed or had a failure (unrelated to abuse) to backup your claims and I'll be totally fine with you complaining about the pop up mechanism.

                      Anonymous, 29 Jan 2020The description offered in this write-up is incorrect on se... moream not engineering people, but this is exactly what I though when reading the article...

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                        • Anonymous
                        • uSW
                        • 30 Jan 2020

                        Anonymous, 29 Jan 2020Or no front facing camera but put tiny touch screen below b... moreMeizu pro 7 plus

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                          • ss
                          • gKA
                          • 30 Jan 2020

                          Ksparker, 29 Jan 2020Meanwhile oppo has already showcased it's camera under disp... morexiaomi also

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                            • Raky
                            • gy@
                            • 29 Jan 2020

                            Ksparker, 29 Jan 2020Meanwhile oppo has already showcased it's camera under disp... moreAnd it seems that Nokia is coming with a such device

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                              • Igor
                              • 6vp
                              • 29 Jan 2020

                              Can't they put a high-end camera for the selfie one and it will equalise the lack of light?

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                                • Gandalfdenvite
                                • 38E
                                • 29 Jan 2020

                                Why can not a small part of the screen, but still under the Gorilla glass 5, just slide back and then to the side under the rest of the screen to reveal the front facing camera?
                                A small notch for the camera and sensors are not really a problem!

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 7Ac
                                  • 29 Jan 2020

                                  Anonymous, 29 Jan 2020https://fdn2.gsmarena.com/vv/pics/sony/sony-xperia-5-plus-r... moreCan't wait! I have the 5 right now but find it too small

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                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 7xY
                                    • 29 Jan 2020

                                    The description offered in this write-up is incorrect on several accounts:

                                    Xiaomi VP has only said that the technology is not yet ready for mass production. Xiaomi is not waiting for the technology to mature, but instead actively working on it to make it happen. There is no hint of any kind that the solution will not be forthcoming in the near-future.

                                    Xiaomi's approach involves a two-piece display, a large regular high PPI display plus a tiny piece of panel replacing the teardrop. The PPI in question refers to the teardrop-sized panel, not the larger display. Imagine a 6" FHD (2160x1080, 400PPI) display with a teardrop panel (179PPI, equivalent to 480p display for 6"). Now imagine that teardrop panel is as small as a punch-hole, would this approach be at least better than any of the punch-hole and teardrop panels that we have right now? If smartphone buyers can accept a panel with a teardrop or a punch-hole, why not a tiny piece of panel with somewhat lower PPI inserted into a larger FHD display? Yes, this is not perfect, but is still an improvement, right?

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                                      • Yujikon
                                      • 63y
                                      • 29 Jan 2020

                                      I dont need a selfie cam because I am not mental ill and need to share my pictures every day to feel better and get likes from others.

                                        Shady69, 29 Jan 2020i have been saying the same for months now, phone companies... moreThe problem is, they can't. The majority of people will not buy a phone without a front facing camera.

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