Photography news, before it happens

With the announcement of the new Ultra 15 smartphone (co-developed with Leica), Xiaomi also displayed a prototype of a new smartphone camera module (in the US Xiaomi phones are sold at Amazon):

• Modular Optical System
• Still a concept/prototype
• 100MP Fusion X Micro Four Thirds sensor
• 35mm f/1.4 lens (f/4-f/11 aperture range)
• Android OS

Xiaomi also showed another concept for interchangeable lenses for a smartphone where you can achieve 10x lossless optical zoom (no other information was provided):

Update: the second prototype is from a company called Realme - the interchangeable lens concept phone is also called Ultra (hence the confusion). The phone has a 1" sensor. The kit shown includes two lenses, a 73mm f/1.4 (equivalent) and a 234mm f/1.5 (equivalent).

Several companies have launched similar solutions in the past, and they all have failed. Do you remember the DxO One, Sony QX, Olympus AIR, Yongnuo YN43, Hasselblad True Zoom, Vivitar IU680, SwitchLens, and probably a few others that I am missing:

Read More »