Ever since phone manufacturers decided it was mandatory to eliminate bezels, front-facing cameras have been kept out of reach. No one liked the notch that Apple introduced with the iPhone X, but that doesn't mean that other solutions have proven to be far superior. The hole-punch camera still leaves an uncomfortable hole in the screen, and the pop-out camera not only adds weight to the device but also tends to attract dust.

Xiaomi has been working on a solution to this problem for some time, and apparently succeeded on their third attempt. The video below shows a third-generation under-display camera with the lens completely obscured.

To be clear, the first and second generations did not blink and miss. The figure below from Xiaomi's blog post introducing the technology suggests that early prototypes worked by reducing the pixel density of the camera, which does not seem ideal. In contrast, current practical designs achieve the same effect with a different pixel arrangement.

"The in-house developed pixel array used in Xiaomi's third-generation under-display camera technology allows light to pass through the gap areas between sub-pixels, allowing each single pixel to retain its full RGB sub-pixel layout without sacrificing pixel density," The company writes.

"Compared to other common solutions on the market, Xiaomi has doubled the number of horizontal and vertical pixels, bringing the pixel density above the camera in line with the rest of the display. As a result, the area above the integrated camera exhibits the same brightness, color gamut, and color accuracy as the rest of the display"

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It certainly looks impressive in the promotional video, and it is really hard to see the camera hidden in most shots. The last frame of the video with the selfies is a bit more noticeable, with the camera position revealed in a slightly darker square, but still much more discreet than our current solution. And with the iPhone 12 expected to keep some sort of notch this fall, next year's wave of flagships may finally solve the still persistent smartphone problem.

Of course, what we won't know until we actually get our hands on the new technology is whether image quality will be an issue. Xiaomi claims that the technology will offer "the same performance as a traditional front camera," but we will have to wait and see. Maybe it's a matter of whether we want more beautiful selfies or a more beautiful phone.

The company states that it "aims to bring this technology to the mass market next year." The foldable phone prototype unveiled last January was unrivaled. Hopefully this new technology will not see similar delays.