The iPhone 12 is here, why is the bangs still there?
Latest update time：2021-08-30 18:35
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In the past September, many people were disappointed by Apple - everyone originally hoped to "welcome" the iPhone 12 at the launch conference on September 16, but Cook fooled them and only used a few watches and tablets to perfunctorily deal with it, leaving greater suspense to October.
However, based on the experience of the past few years, this suspense is not too far away, because all aspects of the iPhone 12 have long been revealed by various technology media and bloggers. According to the current "spoilers", from the appearance point of view, the iPhone 12 still has a lot of changes. One of the main changes is that the arc middle frame design that has been used for many years has been abandoned, and it has returned to the era of the rectangular middle frame of the iPhone 4/5, which makes the new generation of iPhone more recognizable. This change must make the hearts of many Apple fans itch.
Despite the surprise, the iPhone 12's appearance control will still be bothered by a design, that is, the "bangs" at the top of the front screen. It is said that this bangs will be slightly "shorter" than before, but it is still there after all. Everyone can't help but ask: Is it so difficult to ask Tony to help the iPhone take care of a new hairstyle?
Figure 1: The appearance of the iPhone 12 exposed by the media, with the bangs vaguely visible (Source: Internet)
When the "bangs" hairstyle came into people's view with the iPhone X, it was ridiculed by many people, especially by Android competitors. To be fair, Apple has always been quite radical in pursuing a larger screen-to-body ratio and borderless design. It was forced to adopt this hairstyle. You know, a 3D face recognition alone requires a series of components including infrared cameras, floodlight sensors, distance sensors, ambient light sensors, front cameras, dot matrix projectors, etc., plus speakers and microphones. So many things need to be placed on the front of the phone, and at the same time, the screen-to-body ratio value can be higher. A "bangs" may be the best choice at the time.
Figure 2: Components and parts hidden in the iPhone X’s notch (Source: Internet)
But who would have thought that this "hairstyle" would last for three years, and users had to "get used to it". During these three years, Android phones on the other track were not idle, and they really fought hard to prove "who has the real full-screen".
The first trick that Android phones used to deal with the "bangs" was the "widow's peak" - the same special-shaped screen cutting technology was used, anyway, the "black space" on the screen was smaller than that of Apple. However, the problem with the "widow's peak" is that if you want a better front camera experience, the camera cannot be made smaller, and if you want to use high-end functions such as 3D face recognition, a "widow's peak" cannot be hidden. So soon this "hairstyle" became unpopular.
Figure 3: Sharp AQUOS S2 phone with a "widow's peak" full-screen design (Source: Internet)
Since it is an eyesore to put the front camera and other components in the open, can we just hide it? So, represented by OPPO and Vivo, the Android camp launched mobile phones with mechanical lifting mechanisms - the camera and other components are retracted in the body when not in use, and extended when needed. A few days ago, the media exposed the industrial design of a Xiaomi mobile phone. In this design, in order to ensure the integrity of the mobile phone screen, two mechanical pop-up lenses are used, and the "V" layout is presented, which looks like a pair of bows. It is very unique and provides another mobile phone "beauty" idea besides "hairstyle". However, the additional mechanical structure will undoubtedly increase the cost, occupy the precious internal space of the mobile phone, and have shortcomings in service life and waterproof and dustproof, so it has not become mainstream.
Figure 4: Xiaomi's mechanical pop-up full-screen industrial design exposed by the media (Source: Internet)
Therefore, the full-screen experiment of the Android camp needs to continue. Later, the "hole-punch" group took over. The idea of the so-called "hole-punch screen" is to place the front camera (or other components) at the top of the screen where it is not so obstructive, and to make a small hole in the corresponding screen position as an optical path. As long as the aperture size is controlled well, it will not be complained by users.
Figure 5: Samsung's S20 is a representative work of the hole-punch screen, which maintains the integrity of the screen to the greatest extent (Source: Internet)
However, no matter what, whether it is a "widow's peak" or a hole-punch screen, it still changes the integrity of the screen structure and cannot be considered a 100% full screen. Developers with obsessive-compulsive disorder (forced by users) still have to find a more perfect solution. Gradually, people are focusing on the "under-screen camera" technology.
The so-called "under-screen camera" is to place the front camera under the screen, which no longer occupies the space of the front screen of the mobile phone, thus realizing a complete full-screen design. This looks beautiful, but the technical obstacles are also obvious - with the screen blocking the light path, the performance of the camera will definitely be affected, so how to allow light to pass through the screen to the camera has become a key problem to be solved.
Figure 6: OPPO's concept demonstration of the under-screen camera solution (Source: Internet)
Therefore, since last year, the competition in the implementation of under-screen camera solutions has been particularly fierce: as early as last year's MWC 2019, OPPO officially released the "transparent full screen" and demonstrated an engineering prototype; Xiaomi also announced not long ago that its "hidden screen" technology has been upgraded to the third generation; Huawei's new patent for under-screen cameras was also exposed by the media; it is reported that the Galaxy S21 released by Samsung this year may be the last generation of flagship phones without under-screen cameras.
Figure 7: Huawei's new patent for under-screen camera circulated online (Source: Internet)
According to everyone's imagination, the experience of the under-screen camera should be: when the front camera is working, a high-transmittance "window" can be left on the screen for it, and when it is not working, this small "window" can be integrated with the surrounding screen and cannot be noticed. In order to achieve this goal, everyone's efforts are currently focused on the following aspects: developing screen glass with higher light transmittance; using front cameras with larger apertures and stronger photosensitivity; and optimizing image processing hardware and algorithms to improve imaging quality. All the achievements are accumulated bit by bit, and perhaps next year will really be a turning point for full-screen phones.
Back to the title of this article, with the Android camp's aggressive offensive, Apple's "I remain unmoved" seems too low-brow. In fact, it is not difficult to understand - as the initiator of the special-shaped screen cutting solution, after several years of running-in, Apple's "bangs" should have reached an optimal state in terms of technical maturity and manufacturing yield, and can also provide it with a higher rate of return. It is obviously not Cook's usual routine to rashly try new gameplay at this time.
However, this does not mean that Apple is not actively trying new things. It is just that, given its current position, it does not need to blindly prove itself with "fast" and "new" and let users accompany it as "guinea pigs" of new technologies. It is not impossible that one day when you least expect it, Apple will suddenly change its hairstyle to meet you. As long as you are still working hard in the mobile phone industry, nothing is impossible!
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