An under-display camera?

摘要

ZTE's Axon 20 5G, due to go on sale in China as we write, is a mid-range smartphone with the usual array of cameras on the back (pictured) and none on the front. There's no border, no notch, no keyhole and no pop-up camera. The component that enables you to take a picture of yourself is behind the glass, and shoots through it. ZTE says five technical solutions came together to enable this. But to simplify, the pixels in the screen are designed to let more light through to the sensor behind; the electronics in the screen and the sensor are synchronised to minimise interference; and then software processing compensates for the slightly weird image captured through the screen. Several companies have been working on this, but as fast as they improve the pictures they can take, normal selfie cameras get better, raising expectations. After promising a similar feature last year, a spokesperson for Chinese phone giant Oppo admitted they were struggling to get it to the standard they wanted. ZTE says it has made certain decisions to "balance the performance of the display and the front camera", which sounds like both are somewhat compromised.