Galaxy A8s Could Herald Galaxy S10's Camera Under The Screen
It seems that Samsung is really making true on its promise to bring innovative, and probably crazy, new features to its Galaxy A series first. The Galaxy A7 debuted Samsung's first triple cameras and the Galaxy A9 (A9s in China) became its first quad-camera phone. Less sensational is the Galaxy A6s, a China exclusive, that is the first Samsung phone not made by Samsung. Now another China-only phone might turn head and raise eyebrows. Samsung has just teased the Galaxy A8s which might be its first phone with a camera underneath the screen.
Either that or it would have a hole for the front camera. The teaser image that leak source Ice universe tweeted then deleted (preserved by SamMobile thankfully) showed a Galaxy A8s that is all screen. Now, companies have been known to exaggerate their marketing renders. But let's take it for granted that this is close to reality, which leads to two possibilities, both equally interesting.
The first one might have come from Ice universe again who tweeted a few days ago about an upcoming 2019 phone with a "display open hole camera technology". One would normally be puzzled about drilling a hole just for a camera, especially one that may seem to be in different places along the top of the phone.
The display open hole camera technology will become the mainstream technology in 2019, then you think, where is the camera position better? pic.twitter.com/4mh5G7CbeT
— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) October 18, 2018
The other and more exciting possibility is that the Galaxy A8s will be the first example of Samsung's earlier leaked Under Panel Sensor tech or UPS. This would allow Samsung to place the camera beneath the screen and, if XDA was correct, the screen could become transparent right above the camera when needed. This could explain the varying positions in Ice universe's leak.
If that is the case, the might be even more reason to be excited about the Galaxy A8s, even if it will never be available outside of China. That particular technology is also slated for the Galaxy S10 or the Galaxy Note 10 so its appearance on the mid-range model could be a beta test of sorts for the feature.