Crazy rumor: HMD working on a penta-lens Nokia camera monster UPDATED

Stipe | 19/01/2018 | Home, Nokia, Phones | 70 Comments

Roughly 6 years ago, at MWC2012, Jo Harlow, former vice president of Nokia’s smartphone unit unveiled on stage the Nokia 808 Pureview – a device, second to the iPhone, that shocked the industry with a revolutionary camera technology that no competitor could replicate, even years in the future.

PureView technology with oversampling on the 41MP camera the 808 featured represented a milestone in mobile camera technology, and I personally feel sorry that Nokia didn’t further develop the PureView tech in its original form, but decided to shrink it down (at least physically). Microsoft’s Lumia 950 (XL), that features the PureView technology, is still probably one of the best shooters on the market.

Now, something similar appeared online. A rumor as crazy as a 41MP camera sounded in 2012. VTechgraphy reports, that a well known member of Chinese Nokibar forum on Baidu shared details about a device in, what seems to me, in early development phases. The source previously shared information that turned out to be true and claims to be familiar with Foxconn’s R&D business. As HMD’s VP for Eastern Europe Alberto Matrone explained to us in an interview, after HMD does his R&D and comes with the ideal specifications of a product, they discuss with Foxconn what will be the best way to bring the product from prototype stage to commercial reality. It seems that HMD did make a detailed plan for the monstrosity of a device they are preparing, and now they are evaluating with Foxconn will it be possible to manufacture such product en masse.

The forum member claims that HMD is developing a bezel-less camera smartphone that should feature a “penta-lens” camera. The device should have a camera housing similar to the ring on the Lumia 1020, with 7 holes – 5 for the 5 camera modules that form a circle and 2 for flash. This seems crazy, but so did a 41MP camera of 1020. If you remember, we already know Nokia patented a triple-lens camera system, and considering how much work has been done on the OZO VR camera (it features 8 cameras), it’s not something impossible, but still – take it with a shovel of salt.

The source also shared details about other HMD devices in the pipeline. In terms of the Nokia 6 (2nd generation), it is rumored that we will see a blue vairant with gold accent colors. Considering how good the black-copper and silver-red variant look like, it should look fantastic. He also mentioned that HMD is working on a bezel-les Nokia 8 successor. About the 9, he re-confirmed that the device will use the Snapdragon 835, because Snapdragon 845 won’t be available to HMD until the second half of 2018, thanks to Samsung. The curved screen differs from the curved found on Samsung flagship devices, and the phone will have an IP67 rating.

The Nokia 6 (2018) and Nokia 9 are expected to appear at MWC2018 in Barcelona. To be precise, on Sunday 25th of February at 4pm CET. About the penta-lens monster, please treat it as a rumor, because we don’t know if Foxconn will manage, if the info is true, to find a way to mass manufacture the device. All manufacturers have crazy prototypes and a lot of them don’t see the light of the day, so don’t get too excited! (if it is even possible). After all, even if we don’t see this device, something interesting is happening in Foxconn’s R&D lab and hopefully HMD’s aspiration is to make a device that would be what the 808 PureView was at its time.

All in all, interesting times are ahead of us. 🙂 Leave your thoughts freely in the comments down below. 🙂

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