Why is the iPhone’s under-screen camera more difficult to build?

After every new generation of Apple is released, there are always two kinds of heated discussions. One is the sharp comments on the current generation of products, and the other is the bold prediction of the next three generations of iPhones.

In the six months since iPhone 15 was launched, the under-screen camera has become the focus of many news media.

Some time ago, Macrumor broke the news that Apple’s suppliers in South Korea have begun the research and development of under-screen cameras for smartphones. On the other hand, some netizens immediately pointed out that there were similar rumors five years ago.

We don’t know when we’ll see the iPhone pictured here, but until we see the real thing, we know this debate will continue.

Compared to Android, which is making front-facing cameras smaller and smaller, and even rushing to try the "true full-screen" solution, Apple is like an audience sitting on the sidelines, in the same time and space, but not participating in the game, and still staying on the sidelines. Look at the black spot at the top of the screen.

To understand why Apple has not launched the much-anticipated under-screen lens, we must first clarify a question:

Why is the front-facing module so important to Apple?

The more furniture, the bigger the house will be

There is actually a secret hidden in Apple’s bangs.

The front module includes 8 sensing components including "infrared lens", "flood sensor element", "speaker", etc. Looking at it again from this perspective, it seems that the existence of Qi Liuhai can also be understood.

The infrared lens, dot projector and front camera are the fundamental reasons why Apple insists on retaining large modules.

Although the entire iPhone 15 series uses a shorter "Smart Island" and many sensors have been rearranged and designed, these three brothers still stand in the center of the "island".

The iPhone has always had its own unique understanding of photography. The evaluation website DXOMARK ranked the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s “selfie effect” at the top of the list in the past two years. Even last year’s 14 can still rank among the new phones in 2023. Here, we achieved a tie for second place.

▲ Picture from: DXOMARK

The iPhone’s paper data has never been the best, but Apple’s shadow is indispensable in all horizontal comparisons of photography evaluations; its photo style is not the most pleasing either. That one, but the natural imaging effect is quite bright on the major lists.

In this era of increasingly frequent online interactions, selfie live broadcasts, video calls, and online meetings all require the participation of the front lens, so the iPhone has placed the weight of front-facing photography at a high level.

The twin brothers of "infrared lens" and "dot matrix projector" merge into the gatekeeper of Apple's ecosystem - Face ID.

It’s common to hear Apple users complain about iPhone battery life and signal, but it’s rare to hear rumors about Apple’s poor security. This is due to Apple’s deep efforts in security verification.

Face ID joined the Apple ecosystem as early as 2017. At the same time, the iPhone also completely abandoned the Touch ID that it led.

The security of face recognition is incomparable to fingerprint unlocking. The unlocking process of "3D Structured Light Dual Camera" is a bit awkward to explain. We will only select the key parts and briefly explain it.

The "payment level" face unlocking is the biggest compliment to Face ID. Even the treasury can rely on the technology provided. Of course, there are some insurmountable thresholds, and the "dot matrix projector" is one of the big contributors.

The invisible IR Dot is projected onto the face through the lens, forming a three-dimensional model with a 30,000 dot matrix group on the face. The virtual mask is scanned with an infrared lens and matched with the dot matrix information in the mobile phone. , to confirm whether the unlocker is the owner.

Facial information is actually 20 times more secure than fingerprint solutions. The probability of unlocking the phone with the same fingerprint is one in 50,000, and with Face ID, this probability shrinks to one in a million.

After years of upgrades in facial recognition, users can use it when wearing masks, glasses, and hats, but photos with fake faces or even 1:1 face models cannot be unlocked.

In order to prevent the owner from being forcibly unlocked by others holding the phone while sleeping, Face ID also adds "attention detection" technology. Only when the owner's attention falls on the phone screen, the iPhone will be determined to be unlocked. command, the above unlocking process can be carried out.

Features such as beautiful appearance and full screen are all items that can be compromised in the face of "security" and "image".

Apple’s stubbornness will keep bangs and pills existing until it encounters “perfect” under-screen technology.

However, several patents that have been revealed one after another on Apple’s patent website seem to have given some signs of the true full screen that is far away.

Three axes to plug the gap

ZTE, Xiaomi, OPPO, Samsung, etc. have already launched under-screen cameras. Although they have different names for this technology, the underlying logic to achieve the "disappearance of the lens" is similar. .

Since OLED luminescent materials are opaque, if you want to be able to see the screen and allow the lens to see us under the screen, you need to increase the light transmittance of the screen in the area of ​​the front lens, whether it is Whether to make the gaps between pixels larger or to remove some pixels, the final effect is that light can smoothly pass through the gaps and enter the lens.

Apple also uses the same principle to design under-screen lenses, but compared to previous manufacturers, iPhone under-screen lenses have two inherent problems to face:

– iPhones equipped with FaceID have a larger front-facing lens The module needs to be hidden

– A larger module needs a larger light-transmitting area

The Red Magic 9 Pro is currently on the market and can control the resolution difference between the "under-screen area" and the "main screen area" better. With a good camera, during this period of experience, we did not feel the sudden loss of resolution in most scenes, but this is also an effect that can only be achieved on the premise of having only one camera.

In view of this, Apple uses the "integration + hiding" method in the patent to minimize the impact on the screen resolution.

In the patent document code-named 20240077648, a technology called "Integration of Dot Matrix Projector and Flood Illuminator" is mentioned.

The flood illuminator is the infrared lens mentioned above. It is used to emit infrared light to help the phone recognize faces and determine whether the user is looking directly at the screen to ensure that only the user can unlock the screen.

Now, Apple can combine the flood illuminator and dot projector into a single compact projection module, reducing the area of ​​the pair of sensors to nearly half its original size, thereby reducing the need for under-screen area .

The "planar optical waveguide" in another patent is an extension of the above-mentioned integration technology.

Modules such as ambient light sensing, image capture, gesture recognition and proximity sensing in traditional front-end modules need to emit or receive optical radiation in different spectral regions through various physical apertures in order to complete the corresponding operating instructions, as well as the perception of the environment and users.

That’s why most of the current full-screen mobile phones leave a black spot on the screen. It’s not because I like it, but because I have no choice.

However, planar optical waveguides seem to solve this problem. This technology uses planar optical waveguides on the phone's display to guide radiation across the display surface without interfering with display functionality.

Remove the obscure and esoteric professional words: With it, most sensors (except the camera) will not affect the use even if they are placed under the screen, just like the fingerprint unlocking on the mobile phone.

Theoretically, Apple’s combination reduces the size of the front module and the area required to reduce the screen resolution. The only thing that needs to be compromised with the main screen is a front optical lens.

So, this iPhone 16 rendering makes sense.

But to be truly comprehensive, the lens must be a topic that cannot be avoided. After all, the resolution above the module is still different from the main screen. Even on the Red Magic 9 Pro, you will still see " Screen window-like area under the screen.

And Apple’s third plan is specifically designed for this.

まず、特殊な「W」型のピクセル配置により、光の透過率が向上し、回折現象が軽減され、自撮り時の「ハロー」や「霧感」が回避されます。

次に、この領域のコンポーネント (タッチ センサーの金属など) を、さまざまな使用シナリオで隣接するピクセルに近づけたり遠ざけたりすることができ、それによって「ピクセル除去領域」と「ピクセル除去領域」間の表示差を減らすことができます。フルピクセル密度領域」。

特許文書の説明から判断すると、Apple は物理的な意味での可変解像度を達成しています。

特許書類をめくっていると、Appleからの「注意事項」も発見しました。

この図では、画面下の領域の具体的な位置は示されていませんが、考えられる位置を順番にリストしています。この発煙弾は毎年、新しい iPhone の発売前に発生し、インターネット全体で背面モジュールの形状に関する憶測のカーニバルが始まります。

過去 2 年間、大手メーカーはフルスクリーンの探求を遅らせたようです。

一方で、長年の試みの後、前後両面スクリーン、フリップレンズ、スライドスクリーンなどの素晴らしいアイデアは、非常に新鮮ですが、つかの間の歴史的な製品になりました。現在の技術レベルでは、「重量と携帯性」、「高解像度のピクセル」、「完全な画面」を備えた理想的な携帯電話は、このうち 2 つしか満たせません。

この不可能なトライアングルで廃棄されるアイテムもまた、異なるブランド、異なるシリーズの特徴を形成します。

一方で、不完全な画面は完全に欠点ではありません。画面の上部に戻ると、空洞、強打、または水滴の存在が、フロント モジュールが動作する余地を与えるだけでなく、ステータス バーの自然な生息地も提供していることに突然気づきました。

オフスクリーン ソリューションが普及する日、ステータス バーの情報はどこに行くのでしょうか?これらのアイコンの削除と保持に関して、メーカーはどのようなトリックを考え出すのでしょうか?非常に楽しみに値します。

しかし、人々が完璧な画面を追求することで、この長期にわたる「宇宙の綱引き」が続くことになりました。未来の携帯電話の画面はどのようなものになるのでしょうか?実際、私たちはすでに答えを持っています。

元Appleチーフデザイナーのジョニー・アイブ氏は、「インフィニティプール」が将来、Sa​​msung Galaxy Note EdgeからHuawei Mate 30 proに至るまで、誤って使用されてきたと考えています。しかし、本当に視覚的な無限を実現できるのは、ショーケースに置かれたXiaomi Mix αですが、このマシンはまだ量産には程遠いです。

これらの特許文書も「フルスクリーンiPhone」へのわずかな期待を与えてくれるが、常に精彩を欠くことを厭わないAppleは、完璧な画面を見つけるまでには、いくつかのゆっくりとした手順が必要でした。

スティーブ・ジョブズが気に入らない家具でやりくりするよりは空き家を選んだように、iPhoneのデザインは常にこのコンセプトを維持しているようで、常にユニークで常に一歩を踏み出しています。もちろん、変更を加えると世界の注目を集めるでしょう。

それよりも、近年のiPhoneを並べてみると、実は静かに進歩していることが分かります。

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