Looking forward to Galaxy Note21: Samsung reveals details of the hidden sub-screen camera

Rumors about the imminent release of Samsung smartphones with a hidden sub-screen camera have been circulating for several years. Now details about the development have become known from a completely official source.

Unofficial render of Samsung Galaxy Note21

Samsung Display has received a patent for the Under Screen Camera technology and has published some fairly detailed information about it. This technology will allow you to use the maximum screen real estate, without any kind of cutouts, holes or thick bezels for a selfie camera.

The Korean manufacturer filed a patent application with the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) back in March 2020, and on December 31, the documentation was published in the office’s database.

In such a smartphone, the screen is divided into two parts – one main, and the second with increased light conductivity, so that the camera can receive enough light for high-quality pictures and videos. Such a special area can be located in different ways, as seen in the illustration to the patent.

Under the screen in this area is a selfie camera with a flash and additional sensors, for example, an infrared sensor to determine the distance to the subject.

The two areas of the screen do not have noticeable boundaries and interact with each other so that you can display content on the entire screen without any interruption. However, the resolution in the second area may be lower than in the main one.

Judging by the patent, the company has been developing in this direction for several years – the documentation contains references to the 2016 patent. The patent was drawn by the thematic Dutch resource LetsGoDigital, which specifically tracks interesting developments. According to the source, we can see the implementation of the camera hidden under the screen already in the flagships of the second half of the year – Galaxy Note21 and Galaxy Z Fold 3. But it is more likely that Samsung will try out the new technology on cheaper smartphones, where the price of the error is not so high – in the Galaxy series A. The company has already used this tactic. For example, in 2018, the Galaxy A8s became the first smartphone with a camera embedded in the screen.

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