The concept of full screen has been popular in the mobile phone circle for several years, and various forms such as notch screen, lift type, water drop screen, and perforated screen have been born. However, the industry has reached a consensus that the under-screen camera technology is the ultimate full screen. solution.
Recently, Xiaomi and ZTE have had a war of words around the under-screen camera technology. ZTE officially released the Tianji Axon 20 5G on September 1, claiming to be the world’s first commercial under-screen camera phone; but embarrassingly, Xiaomi preemptively released the so-called “third-generation under-screen camera technology” on August 28. However, mass production of this technology will have to wait until next year.
In fact, domestic manufacturers have been preparing for the under-screen camera technology for a long time. Although a lot of products using lift camera technology have been launched earlier and have achieved a 100% screen-to-body ratio to a certain extent, this solution also brings many drawbacks: the weight and thickness of the mobile phone have increased a lot, and it is waterproof. Insufficient performance such as dust resistance .
At the MWC Shanghai exhibition in 2019, OPPO demonstrated a prototype using under-screen camera technology; vivo also used under-screen camera technology on the concept phone APEX 2020 released this year. The recent contest between ZTE and Xiaomi has also caused this technology to attract attention again.
Unlike notch screens, water drop screens, and perforated screens that destroy the integrity of the front screen of the mobile phone, the under-screen camera technology directly places the front camera under the screen, but this will solve the problem of light transmittance in the screen camera area. Otherwise it will affect the photo effect of the front camera. How to ensure the integrity of the front screen display and the photo effect has become a problem preventing mass production of the under-screen camera technology.
According to Ni Fei, President of ZTE’s Terminal Business Unit, ZTE has adopted five technologies: ultra-high-transparent micron-level new materials, independently driven screen display chips, highly integrated and minimalist circuit design, original natural pixel arrangement, and triple forward-thinking algorithms. Mass production of under-screen cameras has been realized. He also revealed that ZTE started developing under-screen camera technology two years ago.
However, before the ZTE conference, Xiaomi officially released the “third-generation under-screen camera technology.” Lei Jun, Chairman and CEO of Xiaomi, stated that Xiaomi produced the first generation of under-screen camera technology in June 2019, with transparent cathode and anode materials, which laid the foundation for the subsequent development of under-screen camera technology; in October 2019, it produced the second-generation screen. Under the camera technology, part of the pixels display the other part of the light; and the third generation of Xiaomi’s third-generation screen camera technology, full-pixel display, pixel gap imaging, achieves the balance of display effect and Selfie performance, reaching the level of mass production.
It is worth noting that Lei Jun also emphasized that the current mainstream industry is the second-generation off-screen camera technology made by Xiaomi in 2019. The implication is that Xiaomi’s third-generation off-screen camera technology leads the friend ZTE. After Lei Jun, Ni Fei also shouted to Lei Jun on Weibo, saying “Welcome more manufacturers and ecological developers to work together to build a better true full-screen ecology.”
Aside from the war of words between the two sides, after the release of ZTE Tianji Axon 20 5G, some media experienced ZTE’s under-screen camera technology on the spot, and most scenes achieved a balance between screen display and photography. But for example, in the light theme, the rectangular outline of the camera under the screen is faintly visible ; when using the front camera to take a selfie with backlight, the image quality will also be reduced.
In other words, although ZTE has mass-produced the technology on mobile phones, the experience in some scenarios is not perfect . However, from the perspective of the evolution of new technologies, the mass production of under-screen camera technology has finally taken a crucial step, which is still of positive significance. With the continuous exploration of many manufacturers, it is not far from the maturity of the under-screen camera technology.
In fact, for the current ZTE mobile phones, some new actions are indeed needed to increase the volume of the market. The glory of China Kulian has gone, and ZTE mobile phones have been planning to return to the mainstream market in the 5G era.
In June of this year, while serving as the president of Nubia, Ni Fei was appointed concurrently as the general manager of ZTE’s terminal division. ZTE Tianji Axon 20 5G is also the first product he released after taking office. In the case of mass production of under-screen camera technology, this product is equipped with the mid-range 5G chip Snapdragon 765G, priced at RMB 2,198, which is quite useful. The intention of the product to drive sales.
However, in the context of the changing domestic mobile phone market, ZTE mobile phones do lag behind rivals in terms of products, brands, and channels for too long. Ni Fei’s goal in an interview with the media is to let ZTE’s mobile phones enter the public’s vision within 2-3 years and enter the first-line brand in 5 years.
And to achieve this goal, after the first mass-produced under-screen camera phone, Ni Fei led ZTE to make up a lesson, and there are many more.
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