Huawei has just announced the launch of its flagship Pura 80 phones in China, and the Ultra model comes with a tricky feature: A “switchable” dual-lens telephoto camera that allows two different lenses to use the same sensor.
You can see the two lenses side by side in the largest of the three camera rings on the back of the 80 Ultra, but they have more in common than just the body. Both lenses have the same set of periscopic elements and the same image sensor with a moving prism that directs light from the selected lens. This is a different approach from the interchangeable telephoto lenses in some Sony Xperia phones, which use a single lens but move parts of the periscopic structure to change the zoom distance.
The two lenses of the Pura 80 Ultra offer 3.7x and 9.4x optical zoom – or 83mm and 212mm if you prefer – which is a wider range than Sony has ever managed to achieve. The shorter lens has an aperture of f/2.4 and is listed as a 50-megapixel camera in Huawei’s spec sheet. The other lens has an aperture of f/3.6 and, interestingly, despite using the same sensor, has a lower resolution of 12.5 megapixels, suggesting that either a sensor cropping or additional pixel combining occurs when using this lens.
Combining two telephoto lenses is not just a way to grab headlines. Image sensors are among the most expensive components of today’s phones, so finding ways to use one sensor for multiple lenses can save money in the long run. It also saves space, even more so, as it avoids two full periscope systems. This may make the phone thinner, but it also makes room for better components – the 1/1.28-inch sensor used here is larger than most phones, and possibly due to the new design.
