Oppo reveals its second-gen under-display camera tech!

First touted by ZTE, Oppo also had shown its own rendition two years ago

Last 2019, Oppo unveiled their own iteration of an optical “under-the-display” selfie camera that will be kept hidden so long as it is not in use. Though the first iteration had problems including lacking picture quality and the fact that it’s not fully invisible and a “black dot” can be seen when the camera is hidden.

With the second-gen announced today, Oppo claims that this new version can be placed under the display “without compromising the integrity of the screen”. The company will be shrinking the pixels while also maintaining the same 400-ppi OLED sharpness as the rest of the panel.

Oppo said that there should be no “virtual differences” between the location of the camera under the screen and the parts that are unaffected. They have even shown an example of this happening. Using an e-reader app with white background and black text, which should be the most obvious blunder that should disprove Oppo’s claim.

The most concerning part of an under-display camera is the quality. Most first-gen selfie cameras have lackluster colour reproduction for a flagship phone. And with the second iteration, Oppo has presented a sample image for users to judge.

The quality of the photo is decent, but this is in good lighting conditions. We are yet to see a sample under low or no light from Oppo. However, there is a noticeable improvement between this and the first gen UDC (under-display camera) samples.

On the hardware side, Oppo has used a custom camera sensor, and as for software side, the company has used modified software to optimise the camera’s performance, including AI enhancements.

Oppo isn’t the only company making an under-display-camera setup, there is also ZTE who pioneered the concept. Xiaomi is also rumoured to be developing their own iteration as well. In fact, the Mi Mix 4 is touted to have an in-display camera concept as well.

Sources: The Verge, GizmoChina