Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra’s Optical 10X Zoom Folded Camera Module to Soon Feature on Other Smartphones

Samsung has announced that the company will supply its 10x zoom folded camera module to global smartphone and automobile makers. The 10x zoom folded camera module, which is one of the main features of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, allows the smartphone to capture distant subjects with magnification, without the any protrusion in the camera module. The South Korean tech giant is yet to share the name of the companies it will be supplying the modules to. Samsung’s Electro-Mechanics department had developed the folded camera module in 2019 to secure a focus point by refracting the light in the form of a periscope. It enabled 5x optical zoom with the camera tech.

In a blog post, Samsung states that the optical zoom function allows the camera to close in on distant subjects without losing resolution quality – and higher optical zoom is realised when the focus point, or the distance between the image sensor and lens, is greater. In order to solve the camera protrusion, the company developed the dual-folded module by refracting light two times to increase the focus distance while only increasing the length of the camera module by 25 percent. The company further states that to reduce the height of the camera module, it had applied a proprietary lens. “This lens is very difficult to produce due to difficulty in controlling the flatness that influences the light penetration rate,” the blog post added.

Speaking more over the development, Ik Chan Shim, Managing Director at Samsung Electro-Mechanics, said, “Recently, camera modules are being used as key distinguishing aspects for smartphone cameras, and the need for ultra-small, high magnification optical zoom is increasing in the market.” Shim further indicated that the company is happy to supply the camera tech to more companies, without specifying the names. In the past, Samsung Electro-Mechanics worked with Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo in China.