OnePlus, which showed off its first concept smartphone the OnePlus Concept One smartphone at CES 2020, is now all set to unveil a "mysterious" new screen technology that it might use in its smartphones being released in 2020.
According to a 9to5Google report, OnePlus recently posted a promo teaser on Chinese social media site Weibo. The image shows an outline of a smartphone screen or glass, suggesting that the company is working on something to do with smartphone displays.
OnePlus event on January 13
The company has also reportedly sent out press invites for an event that will be held on January 13 in Shenzhen, China—where it could finally unravel the mystery behind the new technology—and hopefully, show us its recent display developments. As of now, the company has not revealed anything about it, so we have made some rough guesses of what it could be all about.
OnePlus 8 with in-display camera?
From the image we can see an outline of a display glass without notch or punch hole, so it is likely that OnePlus may showcase an in-display camera technology that its sister brand Oppo showed off last year. However, even if OnePlus does this, the technology will not be ready in time for the upcoming OnePlus 8 series launch. This is because the 3D CAD renders of the OnePlus 8 series that had surfaced a couple of months ago suggest the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro will come with punch-hole displays.
Also, the leaked OnePlus 8 Lite design from December 2019 reveals a punch-hole display. However, a purported prototype of the device showed a notch similar to the one on the OnePlus 6, although we highly doubt the probability of a dated notch making a comeback on a 2020 phone.
Could be a 120Hz display
Another convincing possibility is that OnePlus might announce a 120Hz refresh rate display for its upcoming phones. However, the company could also take us by surprise by revealing a technology like electrochromic glass—a special type of tintable glass—which attains a darker tint when stimulated by electric current. OnePlus showed how this tech works in the OnePlus Concept One.
OnePlus could use the same electrochromic glass technology on its upcoming smartphones to hide the front-facing selfie cameras underneath it. That will be a very good idea indeed. However, we have a feeling that the event will be about 120Hz displays.
