Samsung seems intent on making the ultra-sci-fi trend of under-panel cameras a reality as part of what it calls Samsung Blade Bezel, which combines OLED and UPC technology to create ultra-thin screen bezels.

There is no doubt that demand for webcams has been on the rise recently, with COVID-19 regulations sweeping society and the home office becoming the new normal, resulting in a surge in webcam sales. It is no wonder that notebook computers with built-in cameras are selling well. However, as screens and bezels continue to get thinner, Samsung is finding new ways to integrate cameras into displays without invading valuable screen space. But seriously, does this look like the 90s? And this is definitely another accident waiting to happen.

Thankfully, Samsung is going a different way with its notebooks instead of its smartphone lineup. Because the horror of finding a cam snapped open and broken in your bag is .......

Sciencemint and The Verge report that the Blade Bezel has an "invisible camera hole" that is completely hidden by the OLED display, but part of the display becomes translucent when the camera is active. Other than that, Samsung has been fairly tight-lipped about the intricacies of this technology.

Perhaps equally impressive, the new 13.3" OLED panel is not only 50 grams lighter than standard OLED panels, but is also only 1 mm thick, which is half the usual thickness.

Samsung has been hinting in this direction for years, and some believe that the technology should debut first in the smartphone world and then move comfortably into Ultra-HD OLED panels for laptops. It's certainly not part of the latest Samsung S21 smartphone. It will probably be part of Samsung's next Chromebook product, but they may license the technology to their OLED display partners.

Unfortunately, it is quite unlikely that the image quality of the under-panel camera will be as good as we would like, but perhaps a step in the right direction.

Also, while we have always advocated equipping home offices with the best webcams, there are some exciting and novel, if not top-class resolution, under-screen webcams.