At an exclusive event for twenty corporate customers at the Marriott Hotel in Shenzhen, China, Samsung revealed a new technology milestone that could enable the Galaxy S10’s radical new design: a display that allows front cameras to poke through without the need for a notch.
As this presentation slide obtained by Samsung rumor whisperer Ice Universe shows, future displays from the Korean company will incorporate what Samsung calls “Sensor Integrated Technology”. Basically, it’s an AMOLED panel that has four key functions embedded into its electronics.
The most important of the four is Under Panel Sensor. Whatever Samsung has cooked for this UPS solution will allow front facing cameras to see through the display, eliminating the need to have a notch to hold the sensors necessary for facial recognition or taking a selfie.
This will also eliminate the need for mechanical solutions, like the ones in the Vivo Nex S, Oppo Find X, or the incoming Xiaomi Mi Mix 3.
MORE: New iPhone XR Reviewed - Shockingly Good for the Money
There are no technical details about how this amazing invisibility feat will be accomplished, however — perhaps Samsung has found a way to turn off the AMOLED pixels and make them totally transparent. Remember that, under the display, the phone will not only need image sensors but lenses to focus the incoming photons into the sensors.
The slide also confirms the rumored Samsung Finger-on-Display sensor (FoD) technology, which will use ultrasonic pulses rather than an optical sensor to read your fingerprint and grant you access to your Galaxy S10. This is, in theory, much more secure than regular optical readers, as the ultrasonic pulses will actually create a unique 3D map of your fingerprint.
There’s also Sound on Display (SoD) technology, which in theory will make the entire screen into a surface that emits sound, making you hear calls or listen to music and games without speakers.
The fourth embedded technology is made for gaming: Haptics on Display (HoD). Samsung claimed at the presentation that this tech will fool your fingers into thinking that there’s physical buttons on the screen. It sounds like region localized haptic vibration, but there’s no other detail except what the company claims.
It’s yet to be seen if this display technology will make it to the Samsung Galaxy S10. We know that Samsung’s CEO has said that the new phone will be a very significant design departure from the previous generation. It seems like the only way to go truly radical is with a technology like this.
