Some even combine image data from other sensors, to enhance details. This type of zoom, which is rapidly being adopted by many smartphone manufacturers, enhances images captured by the telephoto camera using AI or computational photography methods to fill in the missing details of textures and colours. There are limits to the amount of zoom that's possible optically from phones, as if you want to go beyond 2x and 3x, then this is where hybrid zoom comes in. This type of zoom typically offers the best image quality. When you tap the 2x or 3x button in your camera app, the phone simply switches to the zoom or telephoto sensor, provided your smartphone supports it.
We've had some outliers such as the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom and Galaxy S4 Zoom, which essentially were digital cameras running Android and even the Asus ZenFone Zoom, but the problem with them is they were too bulky and too niche of a product for most, and so manufacturers eventually dropped the idea altogether. However, in smartphones, adding all these moving parts isn't always possible, especially when you're trying to keep the thickness under 9mm.
This is the truest form of optical zoom you can get.Ī representation of the telephoto lens configuration in the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom Edition This is because the lens consists of multiple glass elements, which move back and forth in order to give you a higher or lower magnification of your subject. In digital cameras you've probably noticed the lens barrel twist and turn and move in and out as you increase or decrease the magnification. The next type of zoom, seen in most high-end smartphones and a few budget ones too, is optical zoom. You'll notice that the finer details and textures suddenly don't look as good as they did before zooming in, which is essentially what's happen when you use digital zoom in the camera app. This does the job but it's not the most effective solution, since digital magnification often leads to loss in detail. Pick any image from your photo gallery and try zooming into a specific area. It's the most basic implementation, where you're essentially cropping into the image so it looks as though you're moving closer to your subject. I think it's safe to say that pretty much every single smartphone today can manage some degree of digital zoom.