Samsung continues to stretch the realms of possibility with its new under-panel camera technology. The Korean giant is aiming to integrate the mind-boggling tech into a diverse range of technology.
It comes as Samsung Display has submitted an application for a trademark in South Korea: laptops are set to be one of the main beneficiaries of the under-screen cameras, as Samsung leads the charge against those intrusive bezels.
This could mean a slew of consumer laptops that dispense of surface webcams, opting for something more incognito by repositioning them under the screen. It would blow the slats out from underneath the current limits of laptop displays: fewer bezels, more screen real estate, and the signalling of new horizons ahead.
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The newly registered trademark is an important green light, as Samsung looks to venture far beyond the smartphone arena. Under-screen cameras for smartphones have been the talk of the town for a while, but laptop integration has been a lot quieter.
We were teased with a glimpse of the under-screen camera technology at work in an actual laptop. Dubbed the Samsung Blade Bezel laptop, the bezel has been significantly reduced, allowing for a more immersive display with an impressive amount of screen real estate.
The under screen camera allows the Blade Bezel to do away with the camera hole entirely. Laptop cameras are usually housed in the bezel, but now that it's beneath the screen, users will be lavished with a laptop boasting an almost edge-to-edge display. Samsung's Blade Bezel also sports the thinnest and lightest OLED display yet, with a 93% screen-to-body ration compared to conventional laptops' 85%.
It practically eviscerates the Macbook Air, which has palpably thicker bezels, where you'll find the built-in camera nestled. The seamless edges of the screen really do offer an unrivalled level of immersion: at a mere 1mm of thickness, it's one of the lightest laptops ever made by Samsung, weighing in at around 30% lighter than most of the laptops on the market.
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Apple played with the idea of under display cameras in its devices as far back as 2009, when it filed a patent for one (via Apple Insider) for use in it MacBooks, or other devices like its iPhones. It never quite came to fruition back then, but here we are in 2021 with a working example from Samsung.
We first heard about the Blade Bezel last October; Samsung filed a trademark for the name, which didn't give us many clues as to what the device might be. Whether this moniker applies solely to this laptop, or to all of Samsung's products with an under screen camera remains to be seen.
We've heard tell that the Galaxy Note 21 could be the first Samsung phone to utilise under display camera tech, and possibly got a glimpse of the handset during CES 2021.
More Samsung devices with under display cameras are definitely on the way, given the discovery of another trademark filed this week called UPC (under panel camera).
If Samsung can successfully deliver this technology in its Blade Bezel laptops and beyond, then it could revolutionize the industry, and signal a seismic shift towards mainstream adoption of under-panel cameras.
Source: LetsGoDigital
Luke is a former news writer at T3 who covered all things tech at T3. Disc golf enthusiast, keen jogger, and fond of all things outdoors (when not indoors messing around with gadgets), Luke wrote about a wide-array of subjects for T3.com, including Android Auto, WhatsApp, Sky, Virgin Media, Amazon Kindle, Windows 11, Chromebooks, iPhones and much more, too.
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