But, thanks to Xiaomi, that might soon be a thing of the past.
And its all down to under-screen cameras.
Before we get there though, lets talk about phone design a little.
When we began our journey, bezels (the thick lines around phones) were everywhere.
Just consider the iPhone 3GS as an example:
But bezels stopped being cool somewhere around 2016 or 2017.
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This screen real estate drive led to something horrible though: selfie-camera experimentation.
Andthe notchwas just the beginning.
Since then, Ive seen it all:pizza slices,flippers,cut-outs, andmole-esque pop-outs.
And the one thing that links them all together?
I dont blame phone makers for this per se, but… Well, actually, I do.
So let me rephrase that: Iunderstandwhy phone manufacturers went the weird selfie-camera route.
But, excitingly, it doesnt seem like thats going to be an issue much longer.
Under-screen cameras: coming to a phone near you
Yes, under-screen cameras are coming.Soon.
Specifically, next year if Xiaomi is to be trusted.
How do we know this well?
Well, the company stated ina blog postthat its third generation under-screen camera is ready for consumer use.
Its set to appear on devices in 2021 and I, for one, am hyped.
Xiaomi put together this rather neat diagram about its under-screen camera journey:
So how did Xiaomi achieve this?
Well, it says they developed a pixel arrangement that allows light to pass through sub-pixel gaps around them.
This allows each single pixel to retain a complete RGB subpixel layout without sacrificing pixel density.
Oh, and it expects this technology to match the imaging performance of conventional front cameras.
I dont think I need to tell you just how impressive this will be if it works as advertised.
Of course, thats a bigif.But Im willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.
And you know what?Fuck yeah.
