Hadley Simmons/Android Authority
I like digging through my closet to use up old phones now and then, and I recently rediscovered the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro (aka Redmi K20 Pro). This $500 phone has arguably set the standard for affordable flagships in some markets in 2019, but the most remarkable thing about it is the fact that it has a pop-up selfie camera. Simply using a Xiaomi phone again made me realize how much I miss this feature on modern smartphones.
Sure, today we have phones with under-display selfie cameras, but as cool as this modern solution is, I still miss the previous hidden camera option. Pop-up sensor technology still looks as futuristic and fun to me as it did when I first saw the phone back in 2018. There’s something really cool about seeing the selfie camera extend and retract from the body of the phone like a periscope.
Why do I miss pop-up cameras
I mainly liked how unique the pop-up camera was from a design standpoint. But there are still two more reasons why I like this approach to hidden sensors.
For starters, the pop-up cameras allow for an uninterrupted, full-screen view like the sensors at the bottom of the screen. In fact, I would argue that the pop-up approach is better for screen quality as there is no blurring in the display area above the camera at the bottom of the screen.
The punch-hole cutouts and cameras under the screen wish they were just as cool as the pop-up cameras.
Another reason I like this design is that it was also perfect for privacy-conscious users, as the camera is stowed away when not in use. This means hackers and other nefarious parties didn’t have a free hand to catch you. There were even several cases at the time when pop-up cameras appeared randomly while browsing the web or using apps on the device, alerting users to a privacy breach.
Google has since added a handy camera indicator to Android, alerting users when an app hits the front snapper. But pop-up selfie cameras still make for a neat layer of privacy in this regard, similar to a webcam’s physical privacy shutter.
Some brands have also tried to add their own style to phones with pop-up selfie cameras. For example, this Xiaomi has customizable LED lights on the unit, custom screen animations, and a choice of sounds to play when the camera pops up and down. Xiaomi’s pop-up phones also have LEDs on the top of the selfie camera module, which act as color-coded notification lights. And yes, I miss the notification lights on the phones, too.
Reliability concerns? What are those?
“It’s another mechanical moving part. That means it’s going to fail,” sounded like a standing refrain from some enthusiasts when the first pop-up cameras were announced.
However, here I am, still waiting to hear mass reports of owners experiencing premature pop-up camera failure. I haven’t used the Mi 9T Pro consistently over the years, so my phone isn’t the best example of reliability. But the pop-up camera here still works well, retracting under pressure as you’d expect but still working perfectly afterwards. The unit still fails very quickly when I drop the phone too.
It seems that concerns about the reliability of pop-up cameras may be overblown.
My colleague Rita El Khoury mentioned that her husband used the OnePlus 7 Pro for two years without problems; The phone has since been used by a relative for a year now with no selfie camera issues. Meanwhile, my other colleague Dhruv Bhutani noted that his old OnePlus 7 Pro’s pop-up camera is still working fine after more than a year and a half of use. Finally, another fellow C Scott Brown added his voice to the mix, noting that he has used the OnePlus 7 Pro for more than two years without any issues.
Another much-touted line is that it’s hard to make a waterproof phone with a pop-up selfie camera. In fact, I’ve thought that’s also been the case for ages. Samsung then brought water resistance to the Galaxy Z Flip series and Galaxy Z Fold, earning IPX8 ratings across the board. So if the company can bring water resistance to a more sophisticated foldable form factor, why not a pop-up camera phone? It’s also worth noting that the OnePlus 7 Pro has some protection against water damage, although it didn’t have an official IP rating for cost reasons.
Do you miss phones with pop-up selfie cameras?
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Those who worry about image quality with these cameras shouldn’t worry either. My Mi 9T Pro takes disappointing selfies, but that’s more down to Xiaomi’s software than anything else. We still think the likes of the OnePlus 7 Pro and vivo Nex 3 delivered great selfie image quality via its pop-up shooters. In fact, I’d say the contemporary pop-up camera will take higher quality selfies than a phone with a selfie camera under the screen. After all, these newer hidden sensors have to deal with glare and other issues caused by having to look across a smartphone screen.
I should also note that pop-up cameras weren’t the exclusive domain of premium phones either, as there were a few budget phones with the technology as well. In fact, I distinctly remember seeing the mid-range HUAWEI Y9 Prime 2019 used by an elderly woman in the dentist’s office a few years ago. I don’t think mid-range phones with an under-display selfie camera are a thing today, nearly three years after the technology debuted.
No matter how you look at it, pop-up cameras have been one of the most eye-catching design innovations of recent years. Sure, the industry may have quickly moved on to punch-hole cutouts and under-display cameras, but I’m not quietly excited to take a selfie with the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra’s under-display camera the same way I do when using the Mi 9T Pro’s pop-up lens. So hopefully we’ll see pop-up cameras return of some kind.