With the advent of bezel-less smartphones, another design trend that has become mainstream among smartphones is the pop-up front camera. How to get around the notch? Just put the camera inside a mechanical module that comes out of the body when required, and goes back in on its own, all in one smooth motion with cool sound effects added to the mix. Now that we are in the middle of 2019, there’s quite a few options when it comes to phones using pop-up cameras to get to an all-screen design on the front. It was ofcourse started off with Vivo and Oppo and as a result, it’s not really surprising that most phones with pop-up cameras are made by them. But they aren’t the only ones playing in this game. Here are all the smartphones with pop-up cameras launched in India —
The Realme X offers a lot of new features for the price-tag it comes at. There's a pop-up camera that rise up from the top edge housing a 16MP sensor, because of which the phone gets an edge-to-edge 6.53-inch display, that too an AMOLED panel sourced from Samsung. The Realme X also looks quite premium with a gradient glossy exterior which doesn't feel like plastic at all, despite being made of plastic. Inside, it has the Snapdragon 710 which has performed better on gaming as compared to other Snapdragon 6-series SoCs and that's paired with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB storage and a 3765mAh battery with VOOC charging support.
The Redmi K20 is one of Redmi's most premium offering so far. After operating in the under Rs 20,000 price range all these years in India, this is the first Redmi phone that has breached the Rs 20,000 price mark and for good reason. For one, it has an attractive gradient design with flaming colours on the back which is made of glass and protected by Gorilla Glass. On the front is all screen, an AMOLED panel to be precise stretching 6.39-inches diagonally. There's no notch, minimal bezels, thanks to a pop-up selfie camera that houses a 20MP snapper. The pop-up module lights up in the colour of the phone's body, adding more flair to the experience. Add to that a triple rear camera setup which consist of a 48MP shooter, another 13MP ultra-wide lens and an 8MP telephoto sensor. Under the hood is a Snapdragon 730 chipset paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.
The Redmi K20 Pro is an out and out flagship offering from Redmi, the first of its kind in India. It meets all the flagship requirements – A Snapdragon 855 SoC, up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage and a 4,000mAh battery with 27W fast charging support. Apart from that, it has all the same features as the Redmi K20 which includes the fast and snappy pop-up camera with a 20MP selfie camera and the triple rear camera with a 48MP primary camera, 13MP ultra-wide lens and 8MP telephoto lens with 2X optical zoom.
The Oppo K3 is like an identical twin to the Realme X but with watered-down hardware inside. This also has an edge-to-edge AMOLED display stretching 6.53-inches and a pop-up selfie camera on the front. On the back is a 16+2MP dual camera setup and inside, you get a Snapdragon 710 SoC with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. The battery inside has a capacity of 3765mAh with support for VOOC fast charging.
The Huawei Y9 Prime is the latest entrant to the pop-up camera trend and is also the most affordable of the lot. Thanks to a pop-up camera module that rises up in 1 second, it has a large 6.59-inch IPS LCD display and the HiSilicon Kirin 710 SoC paired with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage which is expandable to up to 512GB. The battery inside has a capacity of 4,000mAh but lacks fast charging. On the back is a triple camera setup led by a 16MP primary camera, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor and another 2MP depth sensor.
The Vivo NEX was the phone that started it all. The flagship was released last year in China first and took its time to come to India. It looks pretty impressive standing tall with a giant 6.59-inch AMOLED display that’s only possible thanks to the 8MP front camera housed in a small motorised unit that pops-up out of the body. The module over time did slow down a bit but never failed to come up be it for a selfie or for face recognition. Camera aside, the Vivo NEX was a pretty powerful phone for its time with a flagship Snapdragon 845 and 8GB of RAM with 256GB storage. Incidentally, it was also the first smartphone with an in-display fingerprint sensor. Click here to buy.
The Vivo V15 Pro was an expected drip-down of the feature down the price ladder. Early 2019, Vivo made the pop-up camera more accessible to people with the Vivo V15 Pro priced at Rs 28,990. The Vivo V15 Pro is also feature packed with an all-screen AMOLED display and triple-rear camereas. Aligned with the rear camera module is a pop-up camera placed off-center on the top. The front camera houses a high-resolution 32MP camera that bins pixels four-by-one to offer a clear 8MP selfie. The module is also quite fast, and not surpsingly, the Vivo V15 Pro offers an in-display fingerprint sensor as well.Click here to buy.
If the Vivo V15 Pro is deemed too expensive, the Vivo V15 is the one to look at. At Rs 23,990, pop-up cameras were made even more affordable. This time though, the in-display fingerprint sensor and the triple cameras were both axed, keeping only the 32MP pop-up camera intact. If clear, well-lit selfies are what you are after, the Vivo V15 is a good option to consider. Click here to buy.
Both the Oppo F11 Pro and the Oppo F11 are similar in design and features as the Vivo V15 Pro and the Vivo 15. After all, both phones belong to the same parent company that’s generous enough to allow cross-pollination of innovation between the brands it owns. The Oppo F11 Pro relies on the MediaTek Helio P70 for performance. And on the back is a dual-camera module featuring a 48MP sensor while on the front is a 16MP camera fitted inside a motorised module that works similar to other pop-up camera phones. It comes up when needed and goes back in when idle. Our only qualm with this tech is that it feels unreliable after prolonged use even though most brands claim the motors have been tested millions of times and will not fail after a few years. Click here to buy.
The OnePlus 7 Pro became the latest smartphone in India to join the pop-up bandwagon, a premium one at that. It’s actually OnePlus’ most premium phone till date and it’s packed to the brim with features which include a 48MP rear camera, 90Hz display with QHD+ resolution and HDR10+ certification. The screen naturally stretches all the way to the edges and inside is a Snapdragon 855 processor with up to a whopping 12GB of RAM and 256GB UFS 3.0 storage. The OnePlus 7 Pro’s pop-up module houses a 16MP camera that works both for face recognition and selfies.Click here to buy.