New reports indicate that tech giant Samsung is planning to release a smartphone with a camera beneath its front display in 2020. This would finally create a fully edge-to-edge smartphone display with no notch or hole for the front-facing camera intruding on-screen real estate.

South Korean outlet The Elec cites an internal Samsung briefing from March wherein vice president of mobile communication R&D Yang Byung-duk made clear the company’s plan to produce an under-display phone camera. The outlet further claims that this new tech will launch on the Galaxy Fold 2.

The company’s current flagship phones, the Galaxy S10 and Note 10, currently utilize hole cutouts for their cameras, accomplished with “Hole in Active Area” (HiAA1) technology, according to Digital Trends. The company is said to have developed “HiAA2” technology for the forthcoming under-display cameras.

Solving the problem of front-facing cameras has been a pressing concern in recent years as smartphone producers pushed for edge-to-edge screens, or, touch screen displays that take up almost the entire front of a device with no buttons, speakers, or other features present. Apple made strides toward this goal with the iPhone X, which featured a “notch” jutting down from the top of the screen to fit the camera and a speaker. This design has stayed consistent for iPhone models produced through 2019.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 and Note 10 from 2019 were the first products from the company to feature a punch-hole-style camera. Prior to those, the Galaxy Note 9 in 2018 featured pronounced bezels at the top and bottom of the display.

South Korean tech titan Samsung leads the global smartphone market with a 23-percent share of the sector
The Galaxy Note 10 has a punch hole for one front-facing camera at the middle. GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Drew Angerer
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