Oppo’s Under-Screen Camera Uses AI Algorithms And Highly Transparent Display Material

For most smartphones nowadays, even the flagship models, the display is probably interrupted by a notch or a hole-punch from where the selfie pokes. The sacrifice is necessary as the front camera is indispensable. However, with the recent trend, phone makers are finding other ways to accommodate that snapper to achieve the true uninterrupted display. From OnePlus with its pop-up mechanism to Asus with the flipped camera, all kinds of ideas have been executed aiming at this single target. The latest invention is the under-screen camera from Oppo.

Recently, at Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2019, Oppo showcased a brand new technology that enables smartphones to take pictures using an under-screen camera. This solution does not only hide the front camera in favor of more display, but it is believed to let in more light than other snappers, with the help of AI and optimized algorithms for better performance.

What Oppo showed and announced is a bit different from the first time we heard about an in-display camera. Last October, Samsung said that it was working on a handful of inventions, including under-panel camera sensors to give the screen more acreage. Xiaomi is working on the same idea to put the selfie camera under the display.

As the first company to showcase the technology, Oppo obviously has the ambition to be the first to bring the under-display to commercial use. In fact, it has been developing the mechanism since 2017.

Here is what Qiao Jiadong. The product manager talked about this technology:

Oppo shared that the display was made from a highly transparent material that can allow light to go through. The imaging sensor has a larger aperture, more pixel density, and an also bigger sensor size.

For the software, Oppo leverages a trio of algorithms, for high dynamic range, white balance, and haze removal, which can improve the detail and clarity of photos. For more authentic images, Oppo said that it calibrated the hues against many sources of light. For better sharpness, it also considers colors to counteract the haze.

Oppo said that under-screen camera would make a unibody design possible with better waterproofing. The company also claimed that in the future, the camera could take 3D photos, like the one made possible by smartphones with time-of-flight sensors, the LG G8, for example. After making the first real under-screen camera, Oppo will work on the redesigned pixel, display panels with higher transmitivity, and better front-facing cameras for enhanced picture quality.

What we have is just a demonstrating session by Oppo, so it is too early to conclude anything about whether it is better or worse than other designs, like the pop-up or slider camera. Other experts in the fields like Samsung’s executive Yang Byung-Duk have said that full-screen smartphones would not make it to commercial use in the next one or two years. However, we never know, maybe Oppo can quicken the process.