This foldable phone could support add-on camera lenses

Sometimes it takes a while for a good idea to catch on. We demand so, so much out of our smartphones, yet at the same time demand that they be lightweight and easily pocketable. One way manufacturers have tried resolving that dilemma has been through modular hardware: Instead of a one-size-fits-all smartphone, we could have one where we attach and remove components to change its capabilities. Motorola couldn’t make it work. LG couldn’t make it work. But now the idea’s finally flirting with acceptance as phones embrace cameras with modular lenses. Today we’re hearing about what could be an exciting new entry in this category that really pushes phone engineering to the limit.

Back in the late 2010s, phone designs were feeling a bit stale. We got the same basic models, year after year, with little more to look forward to than some speed, battery, and maybe camera upgrades. But then manufacturers finally managed to push foldable screens from the concept stage into actual production-ready devices — and a new market segment was born. Since then we’ve seen foldables mature into reliable, even affordable mainstream options. And now the inevitable may finally be happening, as foldables get mashed up with modular cameras.

At least, that seems to be the rumor noted leaker Smart Pikachu is promoting over on Weibo, where they tease the Xiaomi Mix Fold 5 as “a modular phone with magnetic attachment, a foldable screen, highly self-developed, with right-angled edges cut during testing.”

Those latter couple points feel like we might be losing a little nuance in the translation, but the initial ones are clear enough: This book-style foldable could be getting some modular add-ons. In a follow-up reply, the leaker further specifies that they’re talking about modular lenses.

Outside of that, though, we’re not getting much in the way of detail here, absent the suggestion that Xiaomi could launch the phone sometime in Q3.

There’s nothing inherently problematic about combining the ideas of foldable phones and modular camera lenses — it’s just that each represents a not-insignificant engineering challenging on its own, and it feels almost a bit ambitious to be tackling both at once. Still, with foldable popularity rising all the time, combinations like this are just going to become inevitabilities.

What smartphone feature would you like to see foldable models embrace next? Give us your picks down in the comments.