Canon Patent Application: Smartphone Telelphoto

Last year around Christmas, we found a model design for a smartphone device that Canon was looking at doing, and finally, we have found the actual patent application for this device.

We know that Canon is looking for novel devices as they have added quite a few to their inventory.  Canon isn't one to stand still even if the innovation may not be what photography enthusiasts desire.

Canon shows a variety of positions for the camera device, but essentially they are looking at providing a high-powered zoom for smartphones.

I could see this being a good idea, because while "hybrid" zooms exist (and a few examples of true zooms), the sensor size has to be very limited, and there's simply not much room for optics, making them dimmer than necessary, even with folded telephoto optics.  With such a design, Canon has much more freedom to provide better optical quality, better image quality, and also better stabilization into the picture for smartphones.  Something that probably won't happen in the smartphone space unless major breakthroughs in optics occur.

Japan Patent Application 2021-103261

Canon is apparently thinking about APS-C on the RF mount Canon Patent Application: Sensor Protection Assembly