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TechTranscript
00:00Over the weekend, we just got a look at the first under-display camera that we've seen
00:07in a functional, or seemingly functional prototype.
00:10And this was a video put up by Oppo on their social media account, but they have a front-facing
00:16camera that is hidden under the display.
00:18And then a few hours later, Xiaomi, another Chinese company, puts out a video with the
00:22same kind of technology.
00:23And this video quality is a little bit better, they're showcasing a device that looks very
00:27much like a Mi 9, but it also has a fully functioning front-facing selfie camera.
00:32And it's crazy, this is technology that we've been seeking, or the phone manufacturing world
00:36has been seeking for the past little while.
00:38We started off with the phone with a notch, the essential phone, and then the iPhone had
00:42the notch, and then every Android phone started to have notches.
00:45And then we started to get phones this year with things that aren't notches, but aren't
00:49really like, you know, this isn't the final form that we're looking for.
00:53We have pop-up cameras, we have flip-up cameras, we have devices that are trying to circumvent
00:58the whole notch and punch-hole technology, but the reality is that they're all trying
01:03to achieve a completely notchless, bezel-less, flip-up, camera-less device.
01:08And that's what these prototypes are showing.
01:10Now, from what I understand, the way that they're achieving this is that they're turning
01:13off the pixels right in front of the camera sensor.
01:16So on a regular OLED display, it's just a bunch of diodes that are being lit, and when
01:20they turn off particular diodes, and you can turn off individually ones on an OLED
01:23panel, when you turn off a set of diodes, whatever's behind it now has a less obstructed
01:29line of sight.
01:30So if you look at this still from the Xiaomi video, you can still see that the camera with
01:34this under-display sensor still has a camera visible on that prototype.
01:39It's subtle, but it's there.
01:40It's not as evident as the regular Mi 9 that's beside it, but it's definitely there.
01:44So they've turned off the diodes in that region, which allows the camera to be able to shoot
01:47through it.
01:48But the problem is that that area that's been turned off is not optically transparent.
01:54It's translucent, we can obviously see through it to some degree, but it's not a super-clean
01:57image.
01:58And that's the problem that all these manufacturers are facing right now.
02:01Anyone who's chasing this under-display sensor or under-display camera has to figure out
02:07how to clean up that image.
02:08Because when you shoot through those diodes, even if they're off, it's not clean.
02:12And they're going to need software or some kind of algorithm to clean up that image as
02:16best as they can.
02:17And maybe they can use maybe two cameras so that you have basically two data points to
02:21work with.
02:22And then they'll be able to combine that.
02:23I'm not exactly sure what the techniques are that they could use for this.
02:26But that is the problem that they're facing right now.
02:28How do we clean up that image so that it is acceptable in today's selfie camera market?
02:33And keep in mind that these guys aren't first, right?
02:35Samsung's been working on this technology for quite a while now.
02:37Even in 2018, they were showing slides of how they were working on some under-display
02:41sensors.
02:42And earlier this year, they showed their whole Infinity display lineup with the new
02:47Infinity being the one that's the end goal.
02:49But it's super interesting to me that these two Chinese companies, out of nowhere, showcase
02:54this technology in a fully functioning prototype.
02:57So for me, I'm not someone that uses selfie cameras very often.
03:01So I'd be very willing to eat image quality on my front-facing camera for that technology
03:06today.
03:07Obviously, they're probably not going to do that.
03:08They want to get a front-facing image that's comparable to a regular front-facing selfie
03:15camera, right?
03:16Obviously, that's what most people are going for.
03:18But I think for a lot of people, myself included, would just eat crap front-facing image quality
03:23for that technology today.
03:25I mean, I'm willing to put up with the terrible camera on a 12-inch MacBook.
03:29That's like a 480p camera that looks like garbage.
03:32But whoever brings that technology to the market first, like whoever does it, is going
03:35to have a banger.
03:36Because it resolves things like having moving parts and having reduced water resistance
03:40ratings and stuff like that.
03:42Having an under-display camera sensor is like, it's the dream.
03:47Okay, that basically wraps it up.
03:49I think this technology is cool.
03:50I'm really glad that we were able to see something this early on.
03:53I did not expect it.
03:54It's crazy that this went from a neat idea to a seemingly functional prototype in a very
03:59short period of time.
04:00And that's really cool.
04:01Obviously, there's a lot more work to be done, but I like what I see.
04:04Okay, hope you guys enjoyed this video.
04:06Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it.
04:08See you guys next time.