Google Pixel 7 may come with an under-display selfie camera

The Pixel 6 series is still hot out of the hardware oven but here we are with some leaks about its successor - the Pixel 7. Our good friends at LetsGoDigital have dug up an interesting patent that points toward an under-screen solution for the selfie camera of the Pixel 7.

The patent in question was filed with the USPTO (the United States Patent and Trademark Office) on August 31st by Google LLC and subsequently published on December 16th, 2021. The whole document consists of 16 pages and describes a way to create a larger screen area without increasing the phone size.

The quest for the full screen, uninterrupted mobile display experience seems to be coming to its metaphorical Holy Grail, as many manufacturers now seek to exploit the under-display selfie camera idea.

ZTE did it with the Axon 30, and then Samsung perfected the concept in its Galaxy Z Fold 3 devices. Just like foldable phones are here to stay, it seems that under-display cameras will be the next big thing in mobile tech.

Back to the patent in question. According to the images and description in the documents, Google is trying to hide the front camera and all the sensors under the display. Google already filed a similar patent describing a phone with an under-display camera but the method relied on a prism to project the light on the part above the camera and the sensors.

The solution described in the current patent is much more cost-effective and falls in line with the technology that other brands are employing. The portion of the display above the camera can be polarized and switched on or off in order to let light through, thus allowing the selfie camera and all the sensors to be functional.

There’s another link to the technology used by Samsung in its Z Fold 3 model uncovered by LetsGoDigital. Apparently, Google has snatched an ex-Samsung display engineer - Sangmoo Choi, who's listed as a co-inventor in the aforementioned patent. Looking at Choi’s resume on LinkedIn, one specific bullet point draws attention. “Panel architecture for new form factor/applications (e.g. transparent displays).”

Google Pixel 7 might be the first Google phone to get the new tech

Of course, a patent is nothing more than a pile of paper with some clever ideas and a couple of stamps and signatures. There’s no guarantee that we will see any of this on a production device, although - judging by the industry trend in mobile, we would say that it’s highly likely that the next Pixel phone features an under-display camera.

The Pixel 6 series launched late last year, and there’s plenty of time until a successor hits the shelves, so we might get a Pixel 7 with a full edge-to-edge front display after all. There are limitations to this technology at the moment, and you can check out both our Axon 30 review, and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 piece to get all the details. Long story short, these cameras are still visible under certain conditions, and the quality of the display above them is not on par with the main unit.

Nevertheless, as more and more tech giants try to employ this technology, all the millions spent on R&D will undoubtedly evolve and perfect the under-display cameras of the future. And that’s good news for all the people that hate punch-holes and notches. All we have to do now is wait.