Xiaomi's new smartphone lens tech draws inspiration from traditional camera

At its annual Mi Developer Conference (MIDC 2020) in Beijing, Xiaomi, this week, showcased major technological breakthroughs including a retractable telescope camera technology for its smartphones.

Inspired by traditional camera designs, Xiaomi's latest self-developed, Retractable Wide-aperture Lens Technology features a retractable optical structure that compactly lodges within the smartphone and automatically extends out when needed during photography.

According to Xiaomi, the innovative design allows the retractable telescopic camera to have a larger aperture to increase the amount of light input by a staggering 300%. The new technology is claimed to showcase better performance in portrait photography and night photography compared to currently-used camera structures.

The retractable telescope camera also incorporates a new image stabilization technology that offers a larger anti-shake angle, making the images more stable and increasing sharpness by 20%.

Though Xiaomi did not reveal when the new camera technology will make its debut and in which smartphone, it surely promises to enhance image quality and bring professional photography to millions of smartphone users globally.

"Xiaomi will continue to integrate these professional imaging technologies into smartphone photography, bringing professional photography to hundreds of millions of smartphone users around the world, and adding on to Xiaomi's portfolio of imaging technology breakthroughs," the Chinese technology giant wrote in a blog post.

At the event, the Chinese company also introduced Xiaomi Vela integrated IoT software platform, XiaoAi AI Assistant 5.0 and more breakthroughs in numerous fields.