Samsung is working on phone screens that hide the camera completely

Samsung is working on phone screens that hide the camera completely

Samsung is working toward building phone displays where the front-facing camera hides under the display completely, similar to the way the fingerprint reader is embedded inside the displays of the latest Galaxy S10 phones.

"Though it wouldn't be possible to make in the next one to two years, the technology can move forward to the point where the camera hole will be invisible, while not affecting the camera's function in any way," Yang Byung-duk, Samsung's vice president of the mobile communication display R&D group told Korea's Yonhap News Agency on Thursday.

Samsung's latest phones have minimized the so-called "notch" found in iPhones and other modern Android devices by cutting a hole for the camera into the screen. Without this hole punch, used in Samsung's new "Infinity-O" displays, manufacturers have to create a small cut at the top of the display for cameras and other sensors. The iPhone has a notch that houses its camera and FaceID system.

While Yang didn't say how, it seems possible Samsung could do this by creating an area of the display that turns off the pixels when a camera is in use, so that it can shoot without any light interference.

Yang did not say when Samsung will mass produce such panels, but it would allow phones to have screens that take over the entire front of the device without any cut-out, notch or side and top bezels. Since Apple sources its displays from Samsung, too, it's plausible that this technology makes it outside Samsung phones and to devices like the iPhone.