Is OnePlus working on a new smartphone with no notches and an almost full-frontal display? That’s the suggestion of the latest leaked images online.
It certainly continues OnePlus’ trend of reducing the bezels and increasing the frontal area of the screen. The OnePlus 6 brought a notch to the top of the screen, and the OnePlus 6T reduced this to a small teardrop sensor in the centre of the screen. So is this the OnePlus 7?
oneplus 7 ? pic.twitter.com/L6UF2jjEL4
— 小白 (@xiaovai77) January 12, 2019
Taking the next step and removing any visible sensors at the top of the screen is an obvious call, but leads to a number of discussion points. The first and obvious question to me is where OnePlus will mount the forward facing selfie camera. It could be that the OnePlus 7 will have a pop-up camera lens (such as the Vivo Nex S) or a fully sliding rear plate (found in Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 3) that exposes the sensors.
If OnePlus decides to push the edge to be ‘first’ with new technology, we may see the Shezhen-based company use new screen technology pioneered by Samsung Display to mount the selfie camera in the screen. Forbes’ Jean Baptiste reported on a presentation made by the South Korean company to its Chinese partners in October last year:
At the event, Samsung notably talked about several cutting-edge in-display technologies that will help smartphone makers create the perfect full-screen device and definitely put an end to the era of smartphones with front notches, first seen on the Essential Phone and popularized by the iPhone X.
Among the advanced products that the Korean electronics giant showed were an under-the-screen fingerprint sensor (FoD, for Fingerprint on Display), sound speakers integrated to the display (SoD, for Sound on Display), in-display haptic feedback (HoD, for Haptic on Display) and a revolutionary technology that will let the front camera and other facial recognition sensors work despite being underneath the display (UPS, for Under Panel Sensor).
So what do we have here, assuming this isn’t some photoshopped image?
While the technology to mount equipment under a screen does exist, it feels like an incredibly tight turnaround to get it ready for a summer launch. Samsung was reportedly looking to use this technology in the Galaxy S10 family of handsets but has apparently fallen back on a ‘punch out’ hole in the screen for the camera. This would be a genuine first, but OnePlus would have to be utterly convinced that the technology would work.
If under-screen technology is widely on show at MWC, that would point to OnePlus’ potential use at some point in 2019; if not at the summer launch, with the ’T’ launch in the winter.
A pop up camera or full slider is a definite possibility, but would represent a move away from the consistent design language that OnePlus has used over its entire range of smartphones. Would that be a worthwhile sacrifice to allow for an increased screen size?
The safest answer is that OnePlus is working on a number of concept models and form factors to see what looks right and feels right. That also fits in with the idea that the leaked images from late last year were of different design possibilities. Who wouldn’t want to see what a ‘full screened’ OnePlus would look like?
And if it is a photoshop, it once more shows the power of OnePlus’ engaged fan base to keep the brand in the news.
Now read more about OnePlus’ push to keep the software in its handsets up to date…
