Rumor: Samsung’s next foldable smartphone will have a rear-facing camera

Samsung’s next foldable smartphone may have a camera behind the screen. That reports the South Korean site The Elec based on its own sources. Samsung has already said it is working on that technology.

Samsung is said to have decided this month to start producing screens that can accommodate cameras behind the screen, The Elec reports. That production would have started at the factory in Chungnam. Samsung would call the technology HIAA2. HIAA stands for Hole in Active Area. Current high-end Samsung phones have a hole in the screen for the front camera.

Several manufacturers have already given demonstrations of phones with the front camera behind the screen. The camera takes a picture through the screen. Many phones already have a camera sensor behind the screen, but it functions as an optical fingerprint scanner. Because it is a scanner, things like color reproduction are not important. That is important with a front camera.

The front camera is the reason that many smartphones have a notch in the screen. Things like light sensors can already be placed behind the screen and the loudspeaker can still be placed in the small border above the screen. On some phones, the screen itself acts as a speaker. Samsung has not confirmed the rumor. It is unknown when the first smartphone with a front camera behind the screen will appear.

Photo of Engadget China showing a ‘pixelated’ part of the screen at the top center. In practice, it is visible in certain circumstances.