Smartphones with a camera under the display have been teasing us for at least a year. There is constant evidence that such a smartphone is about to come out, or that it has been developed and is ready. True, sometimes we are sobering with statements that it is too early and the quality of shooting such a camera will be very low. Now such a phone has become more than ever close to us. It even passed certification and is generally ready for mass production. Only now it will not be a flagship and not from one of the top-3 brands in sales. Maybe it's just the quality of the shooting or something else? The most important thing is that he is already close, and the rest will follow. So what is this phone and what can we already say about it?
When there is no camera on the front, it will be the future.
The first smartphone with a camera under the screen
The world's very first smartphone with an under-display camera may not be a flagship. This sounds a little surprising, but it is probably true. For you to understand, it won't even be Huawei, Samsung, OPPO, or Apple. It will be a ZTE smartphone. The smartphone of the company, which, like Huawei, was strangled by US sanctions, but never strangled. As a result, it is ZTE that will soon announce the world's first smartphone with a camera under the display. Not at the bottom, like in the first generations Xiaomi Mi Mix, but under the display.
The CEO of the company recently confirmed the fact that the company will soon release a smartphone with this technology, but all this talk is often worthless. Now we have very strong evidence that the wait really is not long. Judging by the latest data, such a pioneer in this area will be the ZTE Axon 20 5G.
This phone has just appeared on TENAA, the Chinese equivalent of the FCC. This is the body that certifies devices before their direct release to the market. Based on the documents, it can be concluded that the ZTE Axon 20 5G is not a flagship smartphone, since TENAA has revealed its characteristics and even design.
There were many concepts and prototypes, but what will the finished smartphone with a camera under the screen look like?
Specifications ZTE Axon 20 5G
The phone was listed in the documents on the regulator's website as “ZTE A2121”. The listed specs indicate that the phone will be powered by an eight-core processor clocked at 2.4GHz. Even those who are not very well versed in technology understand that now such a value does not attract the flagship processor, because some of them have already exceeded 3 GHz.
This phone will almost certainly use a Qualcomm processor, but the Snapdragon 865 and 865 Plus typically run at 2.8 to 3.1 GHz. It turns out that we need to find a mid-range chipset that would fit these characteristics and could be in a mid-range smartphone.
You won't have to look for a long time, since such a processor is the hit of the last time – Snapdragon 76 5G. This processor is already used in some good devices – for example, in OnePlus Nord – and will be the “heart” of the Google Pixel 5, which will be shown in the fall. This particular chipset definitely matches the specified clock speed and is an excellent option when you need to save on a processor, but release a “not ashamed” phone.
The Snapdragon 76 5G is a great processor and it has connectivity 5G, which even more fits the model name and confirms that this is exactly the ZTE Axon 20 5G. Interestingly, in our time, the release of a smartphone with 5G has already become something self-evident. Even in a relatively inexpensive segment, the presence of fifth-generation networks is no longer surprising.
This is how the ZTE AXON 20 5G will look from the front.
Now for the rest of its characteristics. TENAA claims the device will feature a 6.92-inch OLED FullHD + display. Based on the overall image that is available to us, we can assume that the screen will be flat with no curvature on the sides.
Side view
The phone will come with multiple RAM and storage configurations. It will come in 6GB, 8GB and 12GB RAM options. These three options will include 64GB, 128GB and 256GB of storage, respectively.
It's also worth noting that you can expand this storage with a microSD card. There will be four cameras on the back of the phone. The 64-megapixel main camera will be backed up by an 8-megapixel ultra-wide module, a 2-megapixel depth camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera. I don’t understand the love of some manufacturers for a macro camera, but as they say, millions of flies cannot be wrong.
There will be 4 cameras on the back of the ZTE AXON 20 5G.
The camera in the display, which will be a killer feature of the novelty, will probably be 32-megapixel. The device will also pack a rather large 4,120mAh battery. Most likely, there will be fast charging, but there are no details yet.
Out of the box, the smartphone will run Android 10 with a proprietary ZTE shell. Interestingly, under the display there will be not only a camera, but also a fingerprint scanner. This is already more or less familiar, but so far it is still not used by all manufacturers from whom this is expected.
How the under-display camera works
The principle of operation of the camera under the display has not yet been fully disclosed, and manufacturers are in no hurry to share its secrets, limiting themselves to general phrases. Most likely, we will learn more about its work when the first such smartphone goes on sale.
In general terms, the representatives Xiaomi once opened the veil of secrecy a little and said that installing the camera under the screen is possible due to the use of glass with low reflectivity and high transmittance. Thanks to this design, the display in the area of the camera can become transparent and not interfere with the operation of the camera.