Samsung Electronics will most likely be launching a smartphone with no camera holes on the display in 2020, according to industry sources on Oct. 16.
The display for this model will be the OLED panels from Samsung Display using the Under Display Camera technology. The UDC equipment is called the HIAA2, which is likely to enter the display maker’s production facility at its Asan 1 Campus in South Chungcheong Province later this month.
The sources said this is evidence that Samsung Electronics will be unveiling the hole-less smartphones next year.
The HIAA2 equipment for mass production will be brought early next year. Currently at the A4 plant, there are two OLED production lines capable of producing up to 30,000 Gen-6 panels a month.
Samsung Display had begun mass producing the panels with the HIAA2 equipment in August this year.
According to local market research firm UBI Research, the display maker’s A2 plant is capable of producing up to 194,000 of the Gen-5.5 rigid and flexible OLED panels a month – 144,000 of the rigid panels and 50,000 of the flexible panels.
The HIAA1 equipment will go into the A2 plant, and the HIAA2 into the A4 plant. Both are based on the vacuous chambers from Wonik IPS, attached to laser systems Philoptics.
UDC technology enables manufacturers to cover the camera hole with a transparent display. Its performance hinges on minimizing the distortion of light to make the part as transparent as possible.
Samsung has always applied the first of its latest technology to the newest edition of its flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S series. Some say that Samsung may apply UDC to the foldable smartphones, the Galaxy Fold, which was unveiled this year as a more sophisticated model compared to Galaxy S.
The Elec is South Korea’s No.1 tech news platform.
