Apparently, many firms are attempting to address the selfie camera notch dilemma in different ways. Oppo has a concept that they could introduce as early as this year that allows a single pop-up camera module to use mirrors to take both front and backward images from a single unit.
A light path deflecting mirror will be used for the pop-up module, identical to a concept that Xiaomi has patented but arguably more advanced. The architecture of Xiaomi only uses one mirror, while Oppo uses two that are arranged in a triangle shape. In order to adjust the direction that the two cameras can image, that device reflects light paths as required.
The urge to find a way to get around the cutout of the front-facing camera as well as the “camera bump” on the back of smartphones seems to be very high, as many companies from Samsung and Vivo, Xiaomi and Oppo, all patent various ways to try and solve the issue.
Usually, pop-up cameras have been brittle and vulnerable to malfunction, so it is uncertain why it remains a common option, at least in early patent designs, among businesses.