In-display selfie cameras have long been on the horizon, allowing manufacturers to make smartphones without display cutouts, notches, pop-up selfie cameras, or larger frames.
In 2020, the first large phone with a built-in selfie camera was introduced in the ZTE Axon 20 5G, which packed a 32-megapixel camera under the screen. We haven’t tested this phone yet, but we definitely expect room for improvement with this first generation technology.
That asked us if Android Authority Readers would be ready to buy phones with early generation in-display selfie technology. That’s how you voted.
Would you take a risk on an early display selfie camera?
Results
We published this poll on October 25, 2020 and cast 3,721 votes. The majority of respondents (58%) said they preferred to wait for the technology to evolve. In the meantime, 42% of voters said they would buy a phone with a selfie camera in the display, even if the quality wasn’t particularly good.
We’re not surprised that most of you would prefer to wait for the technology to improve as image quality is likely to be inferior to regular selfie cameras right now. Also, the viewing area above the camera is expected to be cloudy compared to the rest of the screen (at least on early phones).
Connected: Xiaomi outlines the hurdles for good selfie cameras in the display
It is clear, however, that many of you are willing to overlook image / screen quality issues to brag about rights or for the convenience of a decent full screen experience. And if Xiaomi, Oppo and Samsung work on the technology, we could be spoiled for choice in 2021.
This also seems to be a similar situation to the beginning of 2018, when fingerprint sensors on display were still extremely modern and rare. In-display scanners back then were very slow and could take several attempts to authenticate successfully, while traditional scanners were undoubtedly faster and more accurate.
We saw that the technology has improved significantly since then. Some phones are still a bit fussy and slow today, but many devices can provide fast and accurate biometric authentication. Hopefully, in-display selfie cameras will evolve at a similar, if not faster, rate.
That’s it for our poll results article, thanks for voting! Feel free to sound down in the comments if you have any thoughts about the built-in selfie cameras or the results.