Forget hole-punch. Vivo is teasing an invisible in-display camera

The ultimate goal for smartphones is being a superthin featureless slab of technology that is essentially all screen.

Smartphone companies have been making a lot of strides towards that goal, with increasingly impressive screen to bodies ratios, which has recently resulted in the dreaded notch and this year punch hole cameras.

For front-facing cameras, we know however that the dream is having the cameras being below the actual display, without interfering with the display above.

It seems Vivo may be the first to launch such a device, with the company teasing an announcement on the 23rd with an enigmatic hidden message, posted by regular leaker Ice Universe.

Meizu also joined the "Holeless" war and will announce new technologies tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/joUWWWOgeX

— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) January 22, 2019

The device in question is expected to be the Vivo Apex 2019, which has had several renders leaked so far. Some of these have shown in-display cameras but without any disruption to the display. The company also has a patent for such a technology.

The device is otherwise also expected to have an in-display fingerprint reader and a tiny earpiece integrated into the bezel.

Like with in-display fingerprint readers, it will likely be the more aggressive Asian OEMs which will be pushing the technology to grab some attention and of course market share, with larger companies such as Samsung following in their path a year later once the technology is tried and tested.

Would the existence of such a device temper your enthusiasm for the coming S10, with its now “old” hole-punch technology? Let us know below.