What you need to know
- Samsung is said to be building a next-gen continuous zoom camera, but it’ll launch on Chinese brands’ flagships before hitting any Galaxy phones.
- Rumors point to Xiaomi as the first to show off this tech, backed by multiple industry reports.
- Continuous zoom could replace old telephoto and periscope sensors, keeping photos crisp even at higher magnifications.
Samsung is reportedly working on a next-generation camera with continuous zoom, but it won’t make its first appearance on a Galaxy device.
Industry sources told The Elec that Samsung Electro-Mechanics is creating a continuous zoom camera system for several Chinese phone makers, a move set to significantly improve long-distance zoom performance (via Android Authority).
The report suggests Samsung’s continuous zoom system will debut in upcoming flagship Android phones from Chinese brands and is expected to show up in future Ultra devices, just not in Samsung’s own Ultra lineup.
The exact brand hasn’t been named yet, but previous rumors point to Xiaomi planning a phone with a continuous zoom lens.
A game-changer for zoom
Periscope lenses, which are now standard on many phones, have pushed zoom tech forward. By sitting parallel to the phone’s body, they deliver 3x to 10x optical zoom, a big leap from older digital zoom approaches.
Even with recent progress, smartphone zoom still has a big drawback. Current phone zoom is stuck at fixed steps, like 2x or 10x, forcing digital zoom to fill the gaps and degrading quality.
Samsung’s continuous zoom system fixes this by physically moving the lenses to deliver smooth optical-quality zoom across a full range, just like a standalone camera.
The upcoming continuous zoom camera from the Korean tech giant is set to phase out older telephoto and periscope sensors in future phones, keeping images sharp even at higher zoom levels on upcoming flagship models.
Technically, continuous zoom works by dividing a telephoto module’s lenses into several groups and shifting them precisely to adjust focal length, creating smooth, uninterrupted magnification.
Hopefully, Samsung brings this tech to its own flagships soon, as it’d be a huge leap forward for smartphone photography.
