Oppo reveals its first phone with under-screen camera technology

Oppo on Wednesday introduced its first smartphone with under-screen camera technology. Demoed at Shanghai Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019, the reference smartphone does not have notch or any special cut-out to house the front camera.

Explaining the new camera technology, Oppo said, "It utilises a customised camera module, an enhanced translucent panel material combined with advanced processing algorithms to take vivid pictures without a notch or motorised camera."

"The algorithms behind our USC technology showcased at MWC19 include haze removal, HDR and white balance resulting in a bezel-less phone, yet with a selfie camera that rivals current smartphones in the market today," it added.

Right now there's no word on the commercial availability of the phone. According to reports, Oppo's first under-screen camera phone will be launched later this year or early next year.  

 Oppo and other smartphone companies are making efforts to deliver complete edge-to-edge experience to users without adding cutouts or pop-up camera modules. Of late some companies such as Huawei and Samsung have experimented with punch-hole cameras. Xiaomi has also confirmed plans to build a similar under-screen camera technology.

Oppo VP Brian Shen earlier this month cautioned that the new solution is still in early stages. "At this stage, it's difficult for under-display cameras to match the same results as normal cameras, there's bound to be some loss in optical quality. But, no new technology jumps to perfection right away," he said in Weibo post.