Current camera technology is mostly limited to software tweaking with not much emphasis given to the actual hardware, unless you’re Sony of course [Ed note: or Nokia and developing Windows Phone devices.] But according to imaging expert Symon Whitehorn, we could soon see optical zooming technology coming to smartphones, at least from HTC. Symon stated that this technology is certainly not far off and might potentially make its way to consumer devices in the next 12-18 months.
Whitehorn gave out this information in an interview with Vodafone UK, but failed to mention any specifics about how this camera would perform. 12-18 months would mean late 2015 or even early 2016 judging by the usual refresh cycle of smartphones, so we might be in for a bit of waiting.
HTC is currently facing severe criticism for not having a competitive camera on its current flagship. So it is hoped that the company seizes this optical zooming opportunity and makes something good come out of it.
Would you be interested in a smartphone that can provide optical zooming? It would certainly be a refreshing start for HTC if it were to come up with something like this.
[Vodafone UK via Engadget]