ZTE Launches World's First Phone With Under-Screen Selfie Camera

After teasing its fullscreen display-enabling technology for a while, Chinese mobile maker ZTE has officially launched the first commercial phone featuring an under-screen front-facing camera.

ZTE Axon 20 5G Under Display Camera Render1326901740
The Axon 20 5G eschews a hole punch or notch solution for its 32-megapixel selfie camera, and instead hides it underneath its 6.9-inch 90Hz OLED display, which is surrounded by minimal bezels on all four sides.

According to ZTE, the area around the camera looks just as bright and vivid as the rest of the screen. The company says it has achieved this using a high transparency material that features organic and inorganic films.

Putting a camera under the screen makes it harder to match the quality of an unobstructed smartphone camera, so to compensate ZTE has developed software algorithms that address haze, glare, and color cast issues in photos.

The company also referred to "color synchronization" between the camera and the display, which sounds as if it captures images between the screen's PWM flicker. (PWM flicker is a way of controlling screen brightness by adding some breaks without light emittance.)

The phone also features an under-display fingerprint sensor and an under-screen speaker system. Elsewhere, on the rear, there's a 64-megapixel camera backed by an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens with 2-megapixel depth and macro sensors.

The Axon 20 5G will be available to order in China from September 10 at a cost of about $320, but it's unclear if it will become available internationally.

ztecam
This isn't the first time we've seen a Chinese company unveil a solution to the ubiquitous smartphone display notch. Oppo teased its own under-screen camera prototype way back in June 2019, but the technology has yet to appear in a consumer Oppo phone.

Apple is thought to be working towards a notchless iPhone design. The notch has been a controversial design decision since it debuted on the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ X in 2017, and it has always felt like a stopgap on the way to an ‌‌iPhone‌‌ with a truly edge-to-edge display, but when that will appear remains unknown.

Apple's 2020 ‌iPhone‌ lineup is widely expected to include an enhanced triple rear camera system, with at least one high-end model featuring an additional LiDAR camera for 3D mapping. The display notch, which houses Apple's TrueDepth camera and Face ID tech, will almost certainly remain, although there have been conflicting rumors regarding whether the notch will be smaller or the same size as on previous models.

Tag: ZTE

Popular Stories

Home Hub Command Center with Dome Base Feature

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Thursday September 25, 2025 1:11 pm PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system codenamed "Charismatic," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple smart home hub concept based on rumors This is likely Apple's long-rumored "homeOS" operating system. In a report last month, Gurman said both Apple's rumored smart home hub in 2026 and tabletop robot in 2027 will run the new operating system. He said the software platform ...
iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

iPhone 16 Pro Max 80% Charge Limit: One Year Later, Was It Worth It?

Wednesday September 24, 2025 3:58 pm PDT by
With the iPhone 15 series, I did an experiment and kept my iPhone's Charge Limit set at 80 percent for an entire year. It provided an interesting look at the impact of charge limits on battery longevity, so I decided to repeat it for the iPhone 16 line. Since September 2024, my iPhone 16 Pro Max has been limited to an 80 percent charge, with no cheating. As of today, my battery's maximum...
AirPods Pro 3 Newsroom

Apple's 'Back to School' Offer Ends Soon, Now Applies to AirPods Pro 3

Wednesday September 24, 2025 7:20 am PDT by
Apple's annual "Back to School" promotion for students ends soon, so act fast if you want to score free AirPods with the purchase of an eligible new Mac or iPad. Until Tuesday, September 30, college students and qualifying educational staff in the U.S. can receive free AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation when they purchase an eligible new Mac or iPad from Apple. This is a $179 value. ...
iOS 26

Apple Continues to Prepare iOS 26.0.1 With Multiple Bug Fixes Expected

Sunday September 28, 2025 1:30 pm PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. The account initially said iOS 26.0.1 would have a build number of 23A350, but they now expect the update to have a build number of 23A355. This suggests that the software update will include more bug fixes or changes than initially...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

New MacBook Pro Nears Mass Production, But Four Bigger Upgrades Expected Next Year

Sunday September 28, 2025 2:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next MacBook Pro models will enter mass production soon, according to the latest information shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said he continues to believe the new MacBook Pro models will be released at some point between late 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, meaning they should be available to order by March at the latest. Apple often...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

Skipped the iPhone 17 Pro? Here's What is Rumored for iPhone 18 Pro

Tuesday September 23, 2025 8:55 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are still a year away, there are already a few rumors about the devices that offer an early look ahead. Below, we have recapped some of the early iPhone 18 Pro rumors so far. This story was published previously, and it has been updated to reflect the latest rumors. Many early rumors prove to be true, but nothing is confirmed yet, and Apple's...
iphone 17 ceramic shield

Regular iPhone 17's USB-C Charging Speeds Tested With Apple Chargers

Friday September 26, 2025 9:01 am PDT by
The website ChargerLAB has tested the standard iPhone 17 model's USB-C charging speeds with a variety of Apple's chargers, from 18W to 140W. The device reached a peak charging speed of around 27W to 28W with these Apple chargers:29W USB-C Power Adapter 30W USB-C Power Adapter 35W Dual USB-C Port Power Adapter 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max...
Apple More Personal Siri Ad

Apple Responds to U.S. Class Action Lawsuit Over Delayed Siri Features

Friday September 26, 2025 6:57 am PDT by
In March, Apple delayed the launch of its personalized Siri features, and soon after the company was hit with multiple class action lawsuits over the situation. The plaintiffs said they never would have purchased an iPhone 16, or would have paid less, had they known Apple's marketing about the Siri features was false. In the U.S., all of the complaints were consolidated into one class...
maxresdefault

Review: A Week With the iPhone 17 Pro

Friday September 26, 2025 12:51 pm PDT by
Apple's iPhone 17 models have been out for a week now, so we thought we'd do a longer-term review of the flagship iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max now that we've been able to spend more time with them. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera has a Silver iPhone 17 Pro and a Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro Max, and despite a lot of concern over...

Top Rated Comments

Wanted797 Avatar
66 months ago

This is the sort of engineering invovation and leap forward that we should be expecting from Apple, not it's competitors.

Apple should be ashamed of themselves, largest company in the world and they got beat by some small Chinese company...
Apple has shamelessly never cared about being first.

People don’t remember who did it first. They remember who did it the best.

Apple didn’t make the first MP3 player, Smartphone, tablet, Smartwatch or wireless earphones. Yet we remember the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods because Apple waited to do it right.

That doesn’t take away from ZTE though. This is truely awesome.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sunseeker Avatar
66 months ago
Why not place the camera in the centre (diagonally).
That way it would overcome the worst problem of an edge mounted camera. Specifically the lack of eye contact we’ve all discovered during video calls.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
laptech Avatar
66 months ago
This is the sort of engineering invovation and leap forward that we should be expecting from Apple, not it's competitors.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
skir Avatar
66 months ago
Imagine any random screen you look at has hidden camera recording you at any time. Now this is possible.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zouae12 Avatar
66 months ago
Apple should be ashamed of themselves, largest company in the world and they got beat by some small Chinese company...
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DinkThifferent Avatar
66 months ago

It's really beautiful.
It's not. The screen is not symmetrical. The bezel at the bottom is slightly thicker than the top bezel.

You can't unsee that.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)