Development of under-display cameras by smartphone manufacturers

 

World smartphone manufacturers are actively developing under-display camera technology. Under-display camera is a technology that hides the camera on the internal screen by applying a transparent display to the camera part. Let's look at patents related to under-display cameras of Google, Xiaomi, and Samsung Electronics.

 

Under-display camera using Google's Prism

In September of last year, Google filed a patent related to the under-display camera (UDC) technology in a way that alternately uses a camera and a display through Prism. Google's patent implemented a technology that reflects the light entering the prism toward the camera when the camera is used to take a picture, and when the camera is not in use, the prism is inverted to reflect the screen embodied by the sub-display to the user's eyes. Google is preparing to launch on a foldable full-screen smartphone that does not have a hole in the screen using this technology.

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US patent 16/671896, Google
"Full screen display with sub-display camera" 

Xiaomi's rotating pop-up camera

Xiaomi also filed a design patent for a smartphone equipped with a 'rotating pop-up camera' in 2019 to the Chinese Intellectual Property Office. This patent is a method in which the camera rotates 360 degrees front and rear inside the smartphone display, and the front lens rotates back and forth to even play the part of the rear lens. In addition to the rotating camera, two more cameras are mounted on the rear, which rotate using a magnetic or electric module and a central processing unit. In the figure below, the rotating camera is driven by no. 105 and the camera is reversed by no. 104. Xiaomi said that there is no need to install a separate front camera when implementing a rotating under-display camera, so it makes reduce the number of cameras and minimize contacting with dirt.

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CN patent 112714237 A, Xiaomi
"Terminal device, lens adjusting method and readable storage medium"

Samsung Electronics' sub-display camera

Samsung Electronics applied for a patent to hide the front camera using the sub-display in June of last year. This patent describes in the figure below, when a selfie camera is used, a method in which the selfie camera is displayed while the sub-display of 430 moves downwards by the driver of 440. The mobile sub-display also shows notification icons, time, and battery level.

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US patent 16/906053, Samsung Electronics
"Electronic device including sub display and method of operating same"

The reason why smartphone makers apply under-display cameras is to make the screen larger by securing a larger visible space on the front of the smartphone. Through the development of these various technologies by manufacturers, we expect that products that will satisfy consumers who want full screen will come out.