Even though LG no longer manufactures smartphones, LG Innotek, a significant producer of mobile camera components, is still manufacturing. At CES 2023, it will debut a new telephoto zoom camera module with true, continuous optical zoom.
LG Innotek’s new true optical zoom lens for upcoming flagship smartphones
The business is collaborating with Qualcomm to accelerate the adoption of its innovative technology in conjunction with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in upcoming top Android phones.
LG’s design employs moving lenses, similar to a classic DSLR camera lens, which preserves image detail, in contrast to most other long smartphone cameras that use image-quality-degrading digital zoom to go beyond their natural focal length.
The folded-optic design, often known as a periscope lens, is utilized by this camera module in order to reduce overall size. A lens has a genuine optical zoom in between and a 4–9x range as a result.
OPPO is also developing a smartphone with genuine optical zoom, although Sony is currently the only big manufacturer to do so. The new telephoto module LG is displaying may span an equivalent range from 100mm to more than 200mm, which is quite a bit longer than the 3.5-5.2x lens on Sony’s Xperia 1 IV, which is comparable to 85-125mm.
Additionally, this new LG design features optical stabilization, which is essential if you want to snap photos at 200mm. The module moves the lens elements for zooming using a small, incredibly accurate actuator that, according to the manufacturer, can move in 1μm.
A further benefit of LG’s concept, according to the company, is that it would enable phone manufacturers to put fewer total lenses on the back of their smartphones. This design combines the 4x and 9x lenses to save space and reduce power consumption instead of using two separate lenses.
The camera module will help LG Innotek solidify the worldwide No. 1 position in the smartphone camera module market, according to the company’s press release. LG Innotek is already in a strong position, due in large part to its biggest customer: Apple.
Although it’s doubtful that the iPhone 15 would have a folded-optic telephoto lens, LG is eager to integrate its camera technology into a variety of 2023 flagship phones.
