The camera wars heats up with rumoured 40-megapixel triple lens smartphone camera

It is somewhat odd that the main differentiating feature of the supercomputers in our pockets these days happen to be the cameras, especially with the best smartphones costing about as much as a good DSLR which probably takes much better pictures.

Be that as it may, the thirst of the public for good cameras to capture their lives and present their best version to their friends and family has driven remarkable innovation in smartphone camera design, with the state of the art currently being dual rear cameras with combinations of various focal lengths and fields of views to achieve different zoom levels.

What we have not seen recently, however, is a race to up the resolution of cameras, with the 2013 Lumia 1020 still setting somewhat of a high water mark.

That may be about to change, however, as Evan Blass (aka evLeaks) has seen hints of a new smartphone camera coming from Huawei that will not just offer super high-resolution pictures, but also a wide selection of lenses.

Is the next Huawei P-series going to be an imaging powerhouse? A digital artist at one of the company's creative agencies added these "PCE Series" ads to their portfolio — claiming 40MP, 3 lens rear (5x hybrid zoom) + 24MP selfie, all Leica-co-developed. pic.twitter.com/t8w3VlL55L

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) December 6, 2017

He has seen copy from the company’s marketing agency which suggests Huawei is working with lens company Leica to develop a smartphone with a 40MP, 3 lens rear camera with 5x hybrid zoom. The device will reportedly also offer 24MP front-facing camera,

The device will reportedly be in Huawei’s P-series, probably the Huawei P11, which is reserved for their most innovative devices.

Unlike the Lumia 1020, instead of using a large 40-megapixel sensor, however, Huawei may be combining the sensors of all three cameras on the back and using algorithms and AI to weave the results into a seamless image.  Huawei already offers 2x ‘lossless zoom’ which relies on a 20MP pixel dedicated monochrome camera to boost the details captured by the 12MP main colour sensor.

The copy (which has since been removed) also mentions a ‘Pro Night Mode’ and ‘Pro AI camera assist’.

In some ways, the camera may the spiritual successor to the Lumia 1020, as Huawei has established a camera R&D centre in Tampere, Finland, last year, and are employing a number of ex-Nokia ex-Microsoft engineers and developers.

We know there are still some of our readers who still swear by their Lumia 1020 camera.  Will Huawei’s new device convince you to jump? Let us know below.

via Fortune, graphic Adam Z Lein