This is the age of the pop-up selfie camera phone. Wherever you turn, there is one mobile manufacturer or the oter announcing one of them. From little known brands like Elephone and UMIDIGI to top brands like Samsung and Huawei, there is one popping up on their line-up.

Here is how an elevating front camera works. When you switch to the selfie mode in your smartphone’s camera app, the front camera rises up so you can snap away. It retracts immediatly you close the camera app. On some recent phones, it also retracts if the phone’s sensors detect sudden movement e.g. the phone drops.

The big advantage of the pop-up selfie camera phone is that it eliminates the need for a top bezel on the phone. Putting the front-facing camera in a pop-up frees the manufacturer to create stunning bezel-less designs. An easy example is the recently launched OnePlus 7 Pro.

But there are more, and we have the list for you, so that if you are phone shopping and wat a pop-up selfie camera phone, you have a ready list to pick from.

The Elephone U2 is a pop-up selfie camera phone

The definitive pop-up selfie camera phone list

Here are the pop-up selfie camera phones available to buy today, along with their respective prices:

  1. vivo NEX S: $780.
  2. OnePlus 7 Pro: from $669.
  3. vivo NEX A: $610.
  4. vivo X27: $535.
  5. vivo S1 Pro: $400.
  6. OPPO F11 Pro: from $360.
  7. vivo V15 Pro: $345.
  8. vivo S1: $340.
  9. Huawei P Smart Z: $279.
  10. Elephone U2: $239.
  11. Realme X: $220.

Benefits of elevating front cameras

Huawei P Smart Z pop up camera

As already mentioned, implementing an elevating front camera allows for truly full-screen design in a smartphone. The world is in love with edge-to-edge, full-screen phones, and this solution is great for those who particularly dislike notches on their phones. That would include yours truly.

Besides being able to achive a full-screen design, another benefit of the elevating front camera is that of privacy. When not in use, the camera is tucked away and cannot be used to spy on the privacy of the user. If you are heavy on privacy, you will love this. Of course, the rear camera is still out in the open. But it can be argued that it is hardly ever pointing at you and is often facing a flat surface – like a desk – when not in use.

vivo v15 pro pop up

As you can see from the list, at the moment, pop-up selfie cameras are yet to filter down to entry-level smartphones. They haven’t even filtered fully into the mid-range. If you are on a budget, the Realme X, Elephone U2 and Huawei P Smart Z are the smartphones you want to look at now.

Eventually, elevating selfie cameras will filter down extensively though, and more people can have one on their smartphones without having to break the bank.

vivo were pioneers of the elevating selfie camera. The Chinese smartphone brand set the ball rolling in early 2018 when the announced the NEX A and NEX S, both of them with a pop-up front-facing camera. It was a novelty and it soon caught on. Soon after, other manufacturers began to launch smartphones with motorized, elevating front cameras.

vivo NEX A.

vivo is not resting on its oars though. As you can see from the list of phones, 6 of them are vivo and more are on the way. Other manufacturers like OPPO, Redmi, Energizer, among others, have similar devices on the way. The list of available phones with elevating front cameras will only grow longer with each passing week. Pop-up selfie cameras are here to stay.

It is interesting to see that of the 11 smartphones listed above, only one is officially available in Nigeria. You can get the OPPO F11 Pro for ₦139,000 in the market. If you want any of the other elevating selfie camera phones listed, you will have to visit one of the global retail sites like AliExpress, gearBest, etc, to order it and have it shipped to you here.

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