Galaxy Z Fold 4 Under-Display Camera May Get A Stealthy Makeover
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 was almost the perfect embodiment of a foldable phone, but its launch was marred by two camera-related shortcomings. The foldable phone's main cameras didn't take a step forward, utilizing hardware from a previous generation instead. That, however, was more forgivable compared to the internal front-facing camera, which was Samsung's first attempt at an under-display camera. There wasn't much to boast about, though, because it offered terrible quality that didn't justify the way it looked, which made it practically visible and pointless to hide. Samsung is allegedly fixing one of these two flaws in the Galaxy Z Fold 4, though it remains to be seen if it will actually have any positive impact on the camera's overall performance.
To be fair, an under-display camera — or in-panel sensor — is hard to pull off; manufacturers have to balance making it nearly invisible while still maintaining good image quality. It is one of the holy grails in smartphone design, and very few dared to even try. ASUS was one of the first bold names to take the plunge, and you'd think that Samsung, which has more display expertise, would have an easier time. Unfortunately, history tells us otherwise.
To call the Galaxy Z Fold 3's under-display camera (UDC) a failure is probably accurate if a bit cruel. The camera's presence when the area is actively displaying non-black content is pretty obvious, affecting the quality of text or images that may be taking up that space. Worse, the dismal 4MP camera's output is pretty sub-par compared to similar sensors, with the UDC probably to blame. Thankfully, Samsung has gotten the message and reportedly has a fix ready in time for its next big foldable.
A less obnoxious camera hole
According to a tweet from the account @SamsungRydah, which was first spied by SamMobile and has since been removed by Twitter based on a copyright claim (seemingly lending credibility to the leak), the Galaxy Z Fold 4 will rectify the poor invisibility of the UDC. The model will reportedly use a different arrangement of pixels to make it denser, providing a 132ppi circle, up from the Galaxy Z Fold 3 model's measly 94ppi. The result is that the hole will hopefully be less visible, and text should be less distorted in that area. Unfortunately, it's not completely invisible, at least not based on the leaked slide.
What isn't clear, however, is whether Samsung is also upgrading the camera sensor itself to something more than just 4MP. Increasing the sensor's own pixel count could help offset whatever side effects the UDC panel might have in terms of quality. While the Galaxy Z Fold 3 foldable's internal camera was moderately usable for video calls, it just didn't sit well with buyers considering how much they'd paid for the premium phone.
An upgraded internal camera would be in line with upgrades to the other cameras expected for the Galaxy Z Fold 4. These include a 50MP main sensor and a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. These are moderate upgrades, of course, but Samsung seems to be taking a page from Apple's book here by improving quality through software and other minor tweaks rather than going all out on what would be a bulky sensor that wouldn't fit the Galaxy Z Fold 4 model's slim profile.