Chinese smartphone brand Tecno is gearing up for a camera upgrade in its upcoming phones. Tecno, while not widely known in the U.S., has gained popularity in the East by offering standout phones at affordable prices. One of its notable devices is the Tecno Phantom X2 Pro, featuring a unique pop-out camera with a 2.5x physical magnification effect. Additionally, Tecno has introduced innovative camera technologies, including a liquid telephoto macro lens embedded in a periscope zoom camera module.
The liquid lens technology, previously seen in Xiaomi’s Mi Mix Fold, enables the lens to change its shape mechanically or through an electric voltage. This versatility allows the lens to serve dual purposes, either for long-range zoom shots or improved focus for macro photography at close range. The liquid lens is also placed in fluid to aid stabilization, reducing the impact of shaky hands on photo quality.
Unlike traditional camera arrays, Tecno has incorporated the liquid lens into a periscope module, a folded lens system that directs light at a 90-degree angle through a tunnel of lenses to the camera sensor photodiodes. This innovative approach, developed with Sony’s assistance, addresses the limitations of vertical space in a phone’s chassis and enhances the optical zoom range while improving focus for macro shots.
Tecno has also reimagined the camera aperture system with a new W-shaped adjustable aperture. Unlike most phones with fixed apertures, Tecno’s patented technology aims to reduce glare in photos and provide tighter control over the amount of light reaching the sensor. The W-shaped design is a departure from the flower-petal format seen in previous variable aperture systems.
Another noteworthy development from Tecno is its Universal Tone technology, designed to retain realistic skin tones in photos. Using a software system called a multi-skin spectral matrix, Tecno’s camera adjusts light presets based on different areas of a portrait to deliver a natural-looking shot. This approach is reminiscent of Google’s Real Tone technology on Pixel smartphones.
