Samsung's Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is a beast of a smartphone, which T3 dubbed as one of the best and most expensive phones you can get in 2020. It's packing powerful components, a huge screen, and an amazing camera – an area in which Samsung has excelled, with both this handset and the Galaxy S20 Ultra.
But there's an up-and-coming rival that Samsung should keep a weather eye on, in the form of Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi, which has just perfected a futuristic feature that will be coming to its smartphones as early as next year.
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Xiaomi's Mi 10 Ultra launched in China earlier this month, and is sporting some impressive camera specs straight off the bat. That alone is enough to give Samsung's smartphone lineup a run for its money, but Xiaomi is going to turn the heat up on its rivals with the roll-out of its under-screen camera technology that's finally consumer-ready.
This world-first tech has been debuted in a video posted by Twitter leaker Ice Universe, and is being showcased in a Mi 10 Ultra handset, alongside the released version of the device, which features a pinhole front-facing camera. You can check out the side-by-side below.
Big news: Xiaomi announced the third generation of under-screen camera technology. The video below is a special under-screen camera version of the Mi 10 Ultra, which has reached a usable level, which is very exciting. This technology will be mass-produced in early 2021. pic.twitter.com/m8bujC2KCsAugust 28, 2020
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Xiaomi isn't the only company working on under-screen camera tech; fellow Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has also been experimenting with it, and the two companies teamed up last year to create a prototype handset with the feature but it never made it to market.
Once the technology rolls out at a consumer level, it won't be long before the brands with a more global reach follow suit; as with the foldable smartphones, it's likely this is something that's already being worked on and perfected to be consumer-ready.
If that is the case, hopefully Samsung will take its time to avoid a repeat of the Galaxy Fold situation which saw a rushed release followed by a plethora of problems, that resulted in a re-release of the device a few months later. All eyes are on next year's Unpacked to see what Samsung is bringing to the table.
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Shabana worked at T3.com as News Editor covering tech and gaming, and has been writing about video games for almost a decade (and playing them since forever). She's had bylines at major gaming sites during her freelance career before settling down here at T3, and has podcasts, streaming, and video content under her belt to boot. Outside of work, she also plays video games and should really think about expanding her hobbies. If you have any tech or gaming tips, shoot over an email or DM her on social media.
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