Compared to last year’s Pixel 6 series smartphones, the new Pixel 7 series, which was officially announced this week, brings a number of improvements. For those who like to get creative on their phones, one of the surprises that comes with the Pixel 7 / 7 Pro is 10-bit HDR video support. The latest news is that both Snapchat and TikTok will support this new feature on the Pixel 7 smartphones – and both apps are the first to do so on the Android platform.
While not exactly a sensation, the move at least kicks off support for 10-bit HDR video within the Android ecosystem, with more devices/apps likely to support enhanced quality video in the future.
As Esper’s Mishaal Rahman notes, this is probably one of the main reasons why Android 13 mobile OS introduced SDR dimming and the Camera2 API supports HDR shooting.
TikTok and Snapchat are both said to use the Camera2 API. This means that the apps in question tap directly into the camera viewfinder to capture video, rather than recording it normally and then importing it into the app.
What’s more, TikTok and Snapchat users will not only be able to record HDR videos, they will also be able to watch them on the new Pixel 7 series.
The importance of SDR dimming is that other UI elements don’t look discordant in terms of colour or contrast.
Unfortunately, this feature is currently only available to companies that work with Google. We’ll have to wait and see how it develops.
