Worlds first under display selfie camera: ZTE Axon 20 5G

Smartphone manufacturers have to spending a lot of money and effort to achieve a seamless display wiht no notches or punch hole cutouts for many years now. Finally a working phone with the under display selfie camera has been launched and is available for consumers to buy. The ZTE Axon 20 5G is the first  smartphone in the world to use an under display selfie camera. 

               Credit: https://www.bdprice.com.bd/

How this works?

The technology behind this is a little complicated. The phone has a notch on top with a camera beneath it and the display is kept over the camera. The portion of the display where the camera resides has a very low pixel density and resolution for the camera to see through the display. When the front camera is used, the pixels on top of the camera switches off so that light can hit the camera lens to take a selfie.

Tradeoffs 

The camera hole is not really visible if a dark image is displayed on top, but once you notice the cutout, you cannot un-notice it. This is just a first iteration of the tech in a real world use-case scenario, and other companies like Samsung and Huawei are working to improvise this technology. The biggest tradeoff is privacy. When a camera can hidden behind a display, privacy concerns arise. Think about a hotel room TV with an under display camera beneath the screen. 

       Credit: https://www.bdprice.com.bd/

The ZTE Axon is just the first generation of this tech and it will only get better when more and more OEMs uses this technology. Privacy issues can be avoided by adding a software or LED notification when the camera is in use. Samsung is rumored to release the S22 series with under display tech, and it will be a lot better than the one in ZTE Axon 20 5G.