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We just learned a whole lot more about Xiaomi’s iPhone 11 trump card

Xiaomi’s just released a fresh batch of details about its trump card against Apple and Samsung: an under-screen front camera.

Xiaomi senior vice president Wang Xiang revealed the new information in a Tweet earlier this week. In it he showed an image with technical details showing how the firm’s future in-screen camera tech works.

The material suggests “when the selfie camera is activated, the display area over the camera lens becomes transparent in an instant, allowing light to enter.”

According to Xiaomi “This could be the ultimate solution for a full screen display coexisting with front cameras.”

Xiaomi is on of many companies experimenting with new ways to ditch the notch front camera placement that’s common on most current generation smartphones.

Related: Best smartphone

Oppo is working on similar in-display camera tech. The Asus Zenfone 6 has a flip camera setup that pops the rear camera forward when you put the phone in selfie mode. The OnePlus 7 Pro has a pop up camera that lifts out of the phone’s top.

Others have simply tried to reduce the size of the front camera. Samsung’s latest Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10 Plus, Galaxy S10e and Galaxy S10 5G phones all feature “hole punch” designs that embed the front camera in the phones’ screens. We’re not big fan of the hole-punch design, feeling it one of the Galaxy S10’s worst features.

The wealth of different approaches has led to ongoing debate what direction Apple’s next phone, the fabled iPhone 11, will take. The iPhone 11 is expected to be unveiled in September alongside the iPhone 11 Max. There have been conflicting reports what type of camera setup it will have. Most focus on the rear camera with a common rumbling being that the iPhone 11 will be the first Apple phone with a multi-sensor setup.

A third iPhone is also expected, but there are currently conflicting rumours whether it will be the iPhone XR 2 or iPhone SE 2. Personally we’d prefer to see Apple’s small-hand friendly iPhone SE line make a reappearance.

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