For the past few years, smartphone OEMs have been trying their best to reduce display bezels. As a result, we get to see phones with a wide variety of notches and punch holes. However, the main goal has always been to remove these obstructions to achieve a full-screen device.
The only way to achieve this is by placing the front camera underneath the display. We already have the first commercial handset with this design in the form of ZTE Axon 20 5G. But the list of products with this tech may soon grow as the world’s largest smartphone maker Samsung has patented an implementation regarding the same.
According to LetsGoDigital, Samsung Display filed a patent titled ‘Display Device’ with the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) in May 2020. Its documentation was later published on December 31, 2020.
This patent details the South Korean tech giant’s under-display camera implementation on smartphones. As per the documents, this solution includes two display parts. The first one is the primary screen with a better resolution, whereas the second smaller part has a comparatively lower resolution.
This second part can be either placed along the entire top side of the handset or any of the top sides. This section can be used not only to hide the front-facing camera but also LED flash and sensors.
Infrared sensors can be utilized to easily recognize objects/people as more light cannot enter underneath the display. This sensor can also calculate the distance between the phone and the objects/people.
That said, Samsung also makes reference to a similar patent filed in 2016 in the new one. Thus, we can say that the company has been continuously improving its implementation for years.
Anyway, it is not known when the tech behemoth will bring this solution to the market. Nevertheless, we can expect it to debut on a high-end Galaxy A series phone instead of flagships.
