Xiaomi presents a smartphone camera under the almost invisible screen

Xiaomi has unveiled its third generation of under-screen cameras for the upcoming smartphones. Rather than a notch or cutout, the edge-to-edge display will have a camera that is nearly invisible under the display while retaining the standard quality of front-facing cameras.

“This new technology is able to perfectly disguise the front camera under the phone’s screen without ruining the edge-to-edge viewing effect,” the company says. “By avoiding punched holes and dropping dots, this technology makes a perfect full-screen form factor a reality.”

Xiaomi says that a newly developed pixel arrangement and camera algorithm optimization allow the near-invisible camera to “display the same performance as conventional front-facing cameras.”

The company says it managed to double the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in the display circle above the hidden camera, allowing light to pass through the sub-pixel separation area while having the same display pixel density as the rest of the smartphone screen. The result is a functional camera positioned below a viewing area that has the same brightness, color gamut, and color accuracy as the entire screen.

On the camera side of the equation, Xiaomi says it developed a new “special circuit design to hide more components under the RGB sub-pixels to further increase the light transmittance of the camera area below the screen.” This, combined with a new optimization algorithm, helps the camera match the quality of non-hidden cameras, Xiaomi claims.

Here’s a 36-second video showing the next camera below the screen:

“True full-screen displays are just around the corner!” Xiaomi declares.

The edge notes that although the camera is fairly hidden, there are indications that it will remain slightly perceptible. There’s even a faint square shadow in the teaser video above (at the 29 mark):

While exact dates and details have yet to be announced, Xiaomi says this new camera technology will appear on mass-produced smartphones starting in 2021.