Wired
Recently, a well-known digital blogger @数码闲聊站 posted a message on Weibo that Samsung has overcome the high resolution front camera solution.
At the same time, the program is expected to be adopted in the new folding screen products that Samsung will release in Q4 2021. It is not difficult to imagine that it will be an epoch-making folding screen flagship at the moment when many friends have tried to take proactively under the screen.
The emergence of the under-screen camera is to meet the needs of extreme vision. Therefore, it is necessary to further squeeze the little space left on the front of the mobile phone. Not only the front camera, but also the handset and other components are also affected.
The emergence of generations of mobile phones has brought innovative technologies, and people have endless reveries about the shape of future mobile phones.
The design of the screen and the front is ever-changing. How to properly place the front camera to ensure the unity of practicality and beauty of the screen is an interesting question.
The only way to proactive development under the screen, inventory several classic models
Before the concept of under-screen cameras appeared, many mobile phone manufacturers took a lot of effort in order to properly place the front and ensure the harmony and unity with the screen.
This is the only way for the development of mobile phones, and many new features have also been discovered. Let me share with you a few classic design models, which play a significant role in the front and screen evolution of mobile phones, and also lay the foundation for the current diverse mobile phone forms.
Sharp AQUOS CRYSTAL X: A leader in the concept of screen-to-body ratio
Sharp is not only a screen panel manufacturer, but also a mobile phone manufacturer. The mobile phones launched by Sharp are rarely listed in China, but its AQUOS CRYSTAL X released in 2014 is the world’s first full-screen mobile phone and the prototype of a full-screen mobile phone in the future.
It uses a three-narrow-sided design to leave space. The position of the speaker on the camera is cleverly placed, which is quite shocking in actual use. At the same time, after the release of AQUOS CRYSTAL X, the screen-to-body ratio has gradually been valued by other manufacturers.
Apple iPhone X: the originator of Liu Haiping
Speaking of bangs in mobile phones, it is the iPhone X released in 2017. As Apple’s tenth anniversary sincerity, the first mobile phone equipped with bangs was also questioned at the beginning of its listing.
However, time can always witness everything. After the iPhone X, mobile phone manufacturers found that the advantage of using this screen is not only to increase the screen ratio, but also to use the extra screen to lower the icons in the notification bar, such as time and battery level. , Signal, etc. It’s so fragrant!
Since then, products with special-shaped screens such as Liu Haiping have sprung up, and later Apple’s new iPhone series are equipped with Liu Haiping. It seems that this design is deeply loved by Apple!
Sharp AQUOS S2: the originator of the water drop screen
There are two first-generation special-shaped screens, one is the notch screen of iPhone X and its follow-up products, and the other is the water drop screen brought by Sharp.
On the Sharp AQUOS S2 released in 2018, the screen-to-body ratio is further improved, and the light sensor and earpiece are cleverly hidden. However, because Sharp insists on the design of front fingerprint recognition, there are still some areas at the bottom of the screen that are not used.
vivo NEX: the originator of the true full screen
The black technology giant vivo also spares no effort in the solution of the front and the screen. In 2018, it launched the vivo NEX with a lift-up front design, which for the first time brought a true-full screen, and the front is completely a whole screen. There is no superfluous occlusion visually.
Good design is often paid tribute. Since then, many friends have also introduced full-screen mobile phones with lifting cameras, and the appearance of the entire mobile phone market has improved in a short period of time.
However, its mechanical structure has gradually disappeared in future models after many considerations.
Samsung A8s: the leader in in-screen aperture technology
Samsung is not only a manufacturer of mobile phones, but also a manufacturer of screens. Samsung has always been ahead of the industry in the hole-opening technology of OLED screens.
Samsung A8s (2018) is the world’s first full-screen mobile phone with in-screen apertures released by Samsung. This aperture is called “black pupil full-screen”.
Different from ordinary special-shaped screens, the difficulty of opening holes in the screen is quite large. If the craftsmanship does not meet the standard, the yield rate will be quite low.
Because the front camera is in the through-hole mode, only the glass panel is covered, the light transmittance will be guaranteed, and it is no different from the ordinary front camera, and because the panel is not in the blind hole mode, there is no need for shading treatment, and the front is turned on. The hole size is well controlled.
Most future Samsung models have adopted a through-hole design, and with the advancement of technology, the openings are getting smaller and smaller, and the screen is almost integrated with the front of the phone.
After checking these classic design schemes, it is not difficult to see that the screens of mobile phones are getting bigger and bigger, and the area where the front camera is located is constantly compressed.
The front camera and the screen are a pair of contradictions. Although the external mechanical structure can solve the problem, it faces the damage of accidental bumps and the lack of airtightness of the body. At this time, a brand-new solution came, and that was the under-screen camera technology.
Contending of a hundred schools of thought on the proactive road under the screen
The under-screen camera technology is to integrate the front camera with the panel through special technical means, which neither seriously affects the visual perception, nor does it seriously affect the performance of the front camera.
In order to achieve the effect of the under-screen camera, the industry has announced several solutions (some of them are patented, not mass-produced or released).
OPPO:
At MWC in Shanghai in 2019, OPPO exhibited a prototype equipped with an under-screen camera. This is the first time that consumers have seen and touched the under-screen camera at close range. It is also the closest to the future device form, the under-screen camera. The immersion and charm it brings is indescribable.
For the realization of the under-screen camera technology, it is necessary to overcome the key technology of the panel, and analyze the structure of the mobile phone display screen to get a glimpse.
Many mobile phone manufacturers have also made technical breakthroughs and announcements for the under-screen camera. First, let’s take a look at how OPPO’s under-screen camera solution is implemented:
OPPO’s screen with an under-screen camera is divided into light-transmitting areas and opaque areas, and the under-screen camera is located in the light-transmitting area of the screen, involving OPPO’s patented “microlens technology.”
The main principle of this patented technology is to use the pixel gap of the AMOLED screen to achieve imaging. Because there are a lot of gaps in the light-transmitting area of the OPPO screen, the principle of optical aperture imaging is used to pass many tiny light through the lens gap and be received by the photosensitive element.
However, due to the limited amount of light transmitted through the light-transmitting area, the amount of light entering the front camera will be greatly reduced. Although OPPO uses enhanced front-sensing originals, the amount of light passing determines the fineness of the picture quality. , So it can only be optimized by the software algorithm, and the effect is quite obvious.
vivo:
The concept phone APEX 2020 of vivo is also a bold attempt at the under-screen camera. The light transmittance of the screen at the top of the front is 6 times that of other positions.
Compared with OPPO’s microlens technology imaging technology, vivo uses two OLED screens of different materials. In the front camera area, a PMOLED screen with a thin physical structure and higher light transmittance is used to increase the front camera’s The amount of light.
Through different materials, there may be screen boundaries when viewed from different angles.
ZTE:
In September 2020, ZTE released a mobile phone with a real-screen camera: ZTE Axon 20, which is the first to achieve a screen with 0 openings. From the front, the front camera can be better hidden under the screen.
However, due to the limitations of the screen technology at the time, the screen area of the camera had a screen resolution of only 720p to increase the gap between screen pixels and increase the amount of light in the front area.
ZTE’s bold attempt, more determined future smart phone front and screen development direction.
BOE:
For friends of the industry, BOE has taken a new approach and adopted screen displacement technology. When using the front camera, the mobile phone will remove the screen that covers the front directly through the mechanical structure. This smell is a bit like a lifting front camera at that time.
The perfect realization of the proactive under the screen still has Big Brother
As early as 2018, foreign media LETSGODIGITAL broke the news that Samsung had submitted a new full-screen design patent.
It can be seen in the patent that one of Samsung’s future ideas for designing a full-screen mobile phone is to place the sensor directly under the screen panel, whether it is a fingerprint sensor, a light sensor, or a front camera. The key to this technology is based on high light transmission. material.
Currently in the industry, under-screen camera solutions based on high light-transmitting materials have been implemented mainly in two ways: one is to reduce the pixel density in the area of the front camera (such as ZTE Axon20), and use the missing pixel positions to transmit light; the other One is to reduce the area of a single pixel and increase the gap between pixels to allow light to enter better (such as OPPO).
Among the high light transmission materials, the most important part is the high light transmission panel. This technology has already been demonstrated. At the 2015 Asian Retail Expo, Samsung launched the industry’s first mirror-transparent OLED display panel, which was very shocking. , For the first time for retail use in the world-renowned jewelry company Chow Sang Sang’s “virtual necklace” display.
Samsung’s specular OLED panel has a reflectivity of more than 75%. Compared with the current limited supply of specular LCD, its reflectivity is at least 50% higher, and the color gamut has been significantly improved. The color gamut coverage exceeds 100%. The contrast ratio of more than 100,000:1 is also amazing.
Compared with the 8ms response time of the LCD transparent panel, Samsung’s mirror OLED panel is less than 1ms, which is far from the 3ms screen of the gaming phone on the supermarket. In addition, the new mirror display technology does not require the ambient backlight required by LCD technology to display screen images.
Conclusion: Step by step is the perfect proactive solution under the screen today
At the beginning of the year, Samsung demonstrated a notebook equipped with an under-screen camera, using UPC under-screen camera technology.
Some readers may think that notebooks and TVs have little to do with the under-screen camera technology of mobile phones, but this is not the case. Whether changing the pixel arrangement, changing the screen material, or mechanically changing the position, the most important thing is to ensure the light flux of the front camera and the look and feel of the screen.
In May of this year, Samsung submitted a new trademark application, and the three letters UPC are displayed impressively in the picture.
I vaguely remember the previous under-screen fingerprint device. Under strong light or extreme angle observation, you can see the fingerprint module quietly placed under the screen, but now even if the screen brightness is adjusted to the maximum, it can’t be found. The situation of the front camera under the screen is also familiar.
In terms of various new technologies, Samsung has been working step by step, from the announcement of high light transmittance panel materials and screen specifications, to the transition from low PPI to high PPI, in order to prepare the under-screen camera technology for application in mobile phones.
Now Samsung has achieved high light transmittance and excellent quality on large-size OLED screens, and has further overcome the higher PPI of notebooks.
From the commercial use of transparent panels, high specifications and quality, OLED notebook screens in recent years to the announcement of notebooks with under-screen cameras this year, Samsung Q4’s new under-screen cameras are released, everything makes sense.
As a major manufacturer of OLED panels and mobile phones, Samsung controls many important technologies, such as LTPO technology and various new panel material technologies.
Samsung is not only working hard on the screen, but Samsung also maintains a good cooperative relationship with many partners. It has been optimizing the existing screen technology, combining scientific pixel arrangement and AI algorithm enhancement, and continuously improving the user experience.
For this highly anticipated mobile phone with a perfect under-screen solution, we just need to wait for the launch day to welcome the next era that Samsung opens.
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