LG shows second periscopic smartphone camera with variable optical zoom

LG Innotek has presented a second periscopic smartphone camera, which allows users to optically zoom from 4x to 9x compared to a regular primary smartphone camera. The first version could zoom up to 4.5x.

LG Innotek cooperates with Qualcomm for controlling the camera, for which the software will be in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 soc. LG Innotek has not yet announced specifications of the camera module, so it is unknown how large the pixels are and how much surface area the sensor has. It can zoom from 4-9x, which equates to approximately between 96-216mm in 35mm equivalent for smartphones. The difference with many other periscopic zoom lenses is that the zoom level is variable. Instead of zooming 4x and then cropping to get to 9x, the lens shifts to zoom optically to 9x. This should result in a sharper image and more options for taking photos and videos at different focal lengths.

The company does say that the sensor has optical image stabilization, something that is also necessary with so much magnification. In addition, the actuator can make adjustments 1 micron at a time before zooming, which should allow for very precise zooming. Also, due to the design of the lens, the camera module is slightly thinner, which should reduce the camera bump on smartphones.

LG officially presents the sensor at CES, the tech fair that will take place next week in the American city of Las Vegas. Then the sensor should appear in smartphones next year. The first version of this sensor, which was able to zoom 3-4.5x from 70 to 105mm, is in the Sony Xperia 1 IV.

LG zoom camera