Huawei Pura 80 Ultra Innovates with Dual Telephoto Lenses Sharing One Sensor

Huawei has unveiled its Pura 80 Ultra flagship smartphone featuring a novel dual telephoto camera system that cleverly uses a single image sensor for two different zoom lenses. This innovative design allows the phone to offer both 3.7x and 9.4x optical zoom capabilities without the need for two separate sensors or full periscopic setups.

Unlike some competitors that use a single lens with moving parts to vary zoom, Huawei’s approach places two lenses side-by-side within the same camera ring. A movable mirrored prism directs light from the selected lens to the shared 1/1.28-inch sensor, optimizing space and cost efficiency. This setup supports a wider zoom range than similar systems, with the shorter lens at f/2.4 aperture and 50 megapixels, and the longer lens at f/3.6 aperture and 12.5 megapixels, likely due to sensor cropping or pixel binning.

This dual-lens, single-sensor design not only reduces manufacturing costs by using one expensive sensor instead of two but also saves physical space inside the phone. This allows Huawei to include a larger sensor than typical telephoto cameras, which can enhance image quality and keep the device slim. The movable prism mechanism seamlessly switches between lenses, ensuring smooth zoom transitions.

Beyond the telephoto innovation, the Pura 80 Ultra sports a 50-megapixel main camera with Huawei’s dynamic aperture technology and a 40-megapixel ultrawide lens. Its 6.8-inch LTPO OLED display, robust 5,700mAh battery, and IP68/69 water and dust resistance ratings position it firmly in the flagship category. The phone runs HarmonyOS 5.1, Huawei’s independent operating system, and offers up to 16GB RAM and 1TB storage.

Huawei also launched three other models in the Pura 80 series: the base Pura 80, 80 Pro, and 80 Pro Plus. These models share many design elements and camera features but use single telephoto lenses instead of the Ultra’s dual-lens system. All models support the Beidou satellite navigation system and come with HarmonyOS 5.1.

Huawei’s approach to integrating two telephoto lenses with a single sensor could signal a shift in smartphone camera design, balancing cost, space, and performance. For developers and engineers, this innovation opens new avenues in optical engineering and sensor utilization, illustrating how hardware design can evolve to meet user demands for versatile zoom capabilities without compromising device form factor.