It looks more likely that Xiaomi will launch a new type of lens in smartphone soon. A poster with an enigmatic watercolor design has surfaced on Twitter showing what could be an interesting liquid-based lens in the new Xiaomi Mi Mix.
The post, which is coming Beinn Geskin, picking up the words of Lei Hun, co – founder of Xiaomi, and describing a lens that is both telephoto and macro at the same time. He says the principle is the same as the human eye, which uses muscles to change the shape of your lenses, allowing you to focus very quickly.
The only little upset here is that both macro and telephoto application are in the same lens. This is probably a small error, as optical zoom would be many times more complex than simple fixed focus length. However, the idea of focusing on Infinity, and then back down to macro scale is certainly inspiring even if zoom is not involved.
Xiaomi Mi MIX uses Liquid Lens for the first time ever 🙌Focus and focus length change makes it both telephoto and macro lens 🤯 pic.twitter.com/tKgtirbmqhMarch 25, 2021
It’s quite possible that Xiaomi has actually developed something that could change the focal length as well, which would allow a lens like this to move. It’s hard to imagine this maintaining the quality of an optical lens, but we might be surprised.
The idea of a water lens is not entirely new, and the technology is already used in manufacturing. You may be familiar with Corning from Gorilla Glass, which protects your phone’s glass from scratches or breakage, but the company also has a range of lenses that already use similar technology.
Water and oil are used in these lenses. Because they do not mix, when locked together the surface they form can be used as a lens. That surface can be expanded or contracted by an electric current and used to focus an image remarkably fast. You can see the result of that in the video below.
The major advantage of these lenses is that they are non-mechanical. That means they don’t wear out and can be used in places where a mechanical system could malfunction. That’s certainly not a big problem in a smartphone, but the simplicity of the system and the speed at which it can operate could make for a more sensible camera.
The Xiaomi Mi Mix will launch on March 29th.