You may want to hold off on buying a Samsung Galaxy S26 when it launches next year, as Samsung apparently has big plans for future phone cameras.
This takes the form of a continuous optical zoom camera lens, which Samsung is making with the help of Largan (a Taiwanese component maker) for Tecno, the Chinese company known for phones like the Spark Slim and the Phantom Ultimate G Fold (via Sammobile)
The zoom range is infinitely adjustable between those two points, meaning you get full-quality optical zoom at any level you like, and there's no visual jump when switching zoom levels, as you see while changing magnification on a typical phone.
By using a pair of "Alvarez lenses" - a design that uses two small lenses that can adjust their magnification with small lateral movements - this module is much smaller than previous attempts to implement this tech on phones.
This all sounds great, but Tecno admits it will take at least another year of work before such a lens is seen on a production device. But this isn't the only innovation Tecno's been showing off.
The second lens, which is apparently ready to use in the new year, is a Dual-Mirror Reflect Telephoto module.
As you might have guessed, it uses two parallel mirrors to offer zoom capabilities in a much smaller space than the common periscope-style telephoto camera. This comes at the expense of image brightness, though, which could be worth the trade-off depending on the device in question.
A possible solution to a hard smartphone problem
Continuous zoom is common on full-size camera lenses, but has only appeared in a handful of phones due to the size and engineering challenges.
Sony's Xperia 1 flagships have been keeping this dream alive, with the latest Xperia 1 VII capable of shooting at between 3.5 and 7x optical zoom with its telephoto camera.
However, given it's a fairly small player in the smartphone market outside its home in Japan, chances are you didn't even know this was something phones could do.
Tecno is also a fairly small company (although one with some fun ideas I wish we'd get access to in the U.K. and U.S.), but having Samsung on board is a big deal. While I don't think we are guaranteed to see the Galaxy S26 or a future model use this kind of zoom lens, the fact that Samsung is making it at all can only mean good things for future Galaxy phones.
The Galaxy S26 may launch with camera upgrades such as a 200MP telephoto camera or a variable aperture, likely in January or February of 2026. But don't expect it to use either of these zoom lens designs.
The lenses may be Samsung-made, but if they appeared on a Galaxy phone first, Tecno would likely be writing a strongly worded letter to Samsung's lawyers.
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