ZTE reveals under-display face unlock, new under-display selfie camera

The ZTE Axon 20 5G was the first large smartphone with a selfie camera under the display, which enabled a correct full-screen experience without a notch, hole cutout or pop-up camera housing. Unfortunately, our first impression of the selfie camera was that it lagged far behind conventional front-end shooters.

The Chinese brand has now unveiled its second-generation selfie camera technology at the MWC Shanghai 2021 conference. ZTE’s Weibo account notes that the pixel density of the screen area above the selfie camera has increased from 200PPI to 400PPI. Machine translation also suggests that the area above the selfie camera and the rest of the display area are more “consistent”. Check out a screenshot of the post below.

In other words, the manufacturer wants to reduce the clouding effect visible in the display area above the selfie camera of the Axon 20 5G. It is worth noting that the former Android Authority Critic David Imel said “any color except white” hides the haze pretty well. A second generation version of this technology should therefore make it very difficult to see the camera grille / haze.

Unfortunately, ZTE hasn’t revealed what second-generation selfie camera technology would bring in terms of improving image quality. We thought the Axon 20 5G took poor quality selfies compared to traditional cameras. Hopefully the manufacturer will bring significant improvements in this regard.

One of the challenges with under-display cameras is that light has to be squeezed between the tiny gaps in the display to reach the camera. ZTE’s solution to the first generation effort was to reduce the resolution / pixel density here to let in more light. So we’re not sure what to think of ZTE’s new increased pixel density sub-display camera, which suggests the company is using a different solution to address image quality concerns or to design ahead of image quality prioritize.

This wasn’t the only technology ZTE showcased at the conference as it also unveiled the world’s first under-display 3D textured light scanner. Check out the machine-translated post below.

3D textured light technology was used for 3D face unlocking (as seen on phones like the iPhone X and Mate 20 Pro), and ZTE indeed notes that the under-display solution is using for 3D face recognition can be. It also provides for its technology to be used for 3D modeling, augmented reality, and payments.

Of course, the pandemic means that for many, fingerprint scanners are likely more important than facial recognition. However, the 3D face unlock under ZTE’s display is further proof that we are quickly moving into a full-screen smartphone world.

What do you think of the under-display 3D face unlock? Let us know what you think by voting or leaving a comment in the poll below.

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