Fingerprint readers were pushed to the back by shrinking bezels but may return to the front, except they’ll live below the screen.
You can’t put a selfie camera on the back, however, which resulted in
notches on some phones – like the iPhone X and the Essential Phone. But
can cameras join the fingerprint reader and live below the screen too?
Patent drawings of putting the selfie camera, earpiece and sensors behind the screen
A Samsung patent shows such a device. It goes a step further and
moves everything under the surface – including the earpiece, the
proximity and ambient light sensors. The Xiaomi Mi Mix (an early mover
in the bezel-less game) already had an earpiece below the screen but it
didn’t sound great.
The Mix also put the selfie camera on the bottom, not our favorite
position. This patent shows a traditional placement along the top of the
phone, but if the camera can see through the screen, it can (in theory)
be placed anywhere. That would solve an awkward thing about video calls
– you either look in the person’s eyes or at the camera, neither a
great choice.
Anyway, the problem is that no one has built such a camera yet. An early patent
(referenced by Samsung, Apple, LG and others) suggests using a
transparent OLED. With a high refresh rate, the device could flick the
screen on and off and allow the camera to have a look during the
inactive periods.
An early patent for a behind-screen camera
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