Super telephoto lenses are great, but the key is knowing how to use them properly.

At Huawei's Mate brand event on November 26, the Mate 70 series and the Mate X6, among other new products, made their official debut. The most notable upgrade in the new Mate flagship is undoubtedly its camera system. After experiencing the Mate 70 standard edition at the event, Lei Technology found that this new device boasts an optical zoom capability of up to 5.5x, equivalent to a focal length of 125mm.

(Source: Lei Technology's on-site coverage)

As consumer demand for telephoto lenses grows, many manufacturers are adapting to market needs. For instance, the iPhone 16 Pro series comes equipped with 5x optical zoom lenses across all models, and the Xiaomi 15 Pro features a 5x periscope telephoto lens. But are increasingly longer telephoto lenses truly more user-friendly, or are they merely a marketing tool for manufacturers to boast about high zoom capabilities? It's time to uncover the truth behind this 'super telephoto' deception.

Mainstream flagship cameras are collectively 'growing'

In optics, lens focal lengths are typically classified into wide-angle, standard, medium telephoto, long telephoto, and super telephoto. Using a 135-format camera as a benchmark, medium telephoto lenses typically have focal lengths ranging from 61mm to 100mm. However, since mobile photography often relies on multiple fixed-focal-length lenses to form an imaging system, focal lengths between 50mm and 85mm are generally considered medium telephoto.

Apple introduced the 'telephoto' lens design for the first time in the iPhone 11 series, with an equivalent focal length of 52mm and a magnification factor of 2. By the iPhone 13 Pro, Apple had upgraded this telephoto lens to an equivalent focal length of 72mm, with a magnification factor of 3. On the iPhone 15 Pro Max, this telephoto lens was further upgraded to a 120mm focal length, with a magnification factor of 5.

(Source: Apple)

Other manufacturers, such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and OPPO, are also continuously increasing their telephoto lens magnification, though their approaches differ slightly. Notably, there is a decreasing emphasis on medium telephoto lenses.

Consumers are equally puzzled by these manufacturers' choices. Since the introduction of the 5x telephoto lens in the iPhone 15 Pro Max, discussions about which is better – 3x or 5x – have never ceased, and Xiaomi's change with the 15 Pro has also sparked considerable controversy.

So why are manufacturers abandoning the 72mm focal length and collectively moving towards 120mm and beyond?

As mentioned earlier, the defining characteristic of mobile photography is the use of multiple cameras to form a comprehensive imaging system. This means that while telephoto focal lengths are being extended, the absence in this range can be compensated for by other lenses. In 2021, Sony introduced In-Sensor Zoom (ISZ) technology in the IMX766 sensor, an algorithm that achieves zoom by cropping sensor regions. Thanks to this technology, high-resolution sensors can achieve lossless zoom.

With this technology, most smartphone main cameras now support three new magnification factors: 1.2x, 1.5x, and 2x, equivalent to focal lengths of 28mm, 35mm, and 50mm. Take the iPhone 15 Pro Max as an example; through cropping algorithms, Apple claims to offer seven 'golden' focal lengths for photography.

(Source: Apple)

Although ISZ technology allows for more lossless focal lengths without increasing the number of camera lenses, the jump from 50mm to 120mm and beyond is still quite risky. On the one hand, the 72mm focal length is considered one of the 'golden' focal lengths for portrait photography, allowing photographers to maintain an appropriate distance from their subjects, providing good background blur and a sense of spatial compression, whereas 120mm requires a much greater distance. On the other hand, 72mm is also ideal for street photography and documenting daily life, with many award-winning documentary and humanistic photography works captured at similar focal lengths.

Of course, there's a classic saying in mobile photography: 'First, capture the image; then worry about the quality.' While the absence of medium telephoto lenses may indeed cause anxiety among photography enthusiasts, and currently, no main camera is powerful enough to achieve lossless 3x zoom through technology alone, without a super telephoto lens, the possibility of achieving 20x, 30x, or even higher digital hybrid zoom is virtually non-existent.

Combining hardware and software, AI unleashes the value of telephoto images

As mobile photography continues to evolve, each manufacturer makes choices suited to their needs within the limited space of a smartphone: Apple sticks with a triple-camera system, preferring stronger telephoto capabilities over medium telephoto; Xiaomi and OPPO adopt a dual-telephoto approach, not neglecting either medium or long telephoto; vivo and Honor choose to use ultra-large-sensor, high-resolution sensors to cover medium to long telephoto scenarios. Among them, only Samsung has retreated from a 10x super telephoto to a 5x telephoto.

Xiaomi and OPPO's dual-telephoto approach is actually the most suitable for photography enthusiasts. The main camera can cover four 'golden' focal lengths: 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, and 50mm, while the 3x optical zoom bridges the gap between 72mm and 120mm, with more distant scenes relying on high-resolution cropping and AI algorithms. While this setup seems nearly perfect, it's not without its flaws.

(Source: Xiaomi)

Smartphones have limited space, so compromises must be made when using a quad-camera setup. For example, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra features one periscope and one vertically designed lens, but the sensor size is not large enough, and light sensitivity decreases with zoom cropping. The OPPO Find X7 Ultra, despite using a dual-periscope structure, has a smaller aperture and sensor area for its 135mm telephoto lens, resulting in weaker low-light performance. The periscope structure used in the iPhone 15 Pro Max and subsequent Pro models is also small in size, aperture, and pixel count, controlling volume but compromising imaging quality.

Both Honor and vivo have chosen to forgo medium telephoto lenses, relying solely on AI algorithms to cover all focal lengths from the main camera to medium telephoto and beyond. The Samsung HP9 sensor in the vivo X100 Ultra and X200 Pro boasts 200 million pixels and a 1/1.4-inch ultra-large sensor, significantly enhancing both cropped pixel zoom and low-light sensitivity.

(Source: vivo)

According to Digital Chat Station, some manufacturers in this generation of imaging flagships are attempting to reduce the sensor area of the main camera while increasing the focal length, pairing it with a 200-megapixel HP9 telephoto lens to create a more everyday-suitable imaging solution. Another approach is to add a smaller medium telephoto lens to the HP9 for focal length relay. Regardless of the approach, it's clear that manufacturers are addressing previous weaknesses in various focal lengths.

In addition to hardware, AI algorithms are also a top priority for all manufacturers. Since Xiaomi introduced large AI models into mobile photography with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, vivo, OPPO, Huawei, and Honor have followed suit. During this period, I've reviewed this generation of imaging flagships and observed significant qualitative leaps in super telephoto landscapes, stage performances, portraits, and other scenarios thanks to these large AI models.

It's not hard to predict that, although the number of smartphone cameras is limited by size constraints, the missing focal lengths can still rely on large AI models for further image quality optimization, provided the pixel count and light sensitivity meet basic standards. It's therefore reasonable that medium telephoto lenses are being phased out.

Super telephoto lenses are great, but the key is knowing how to use them

Despite the controversy surrounding manufacturers like Apple and Xiaomi gradually abandoning medium telephoto in favor of telephoto lenses, super telephoto is indeed one of consumers' favorite features: Firstly, hundredfold zoom has always been the most intuitive way for consumers to experience a new device's imaging capabilities when encountering it for the first time, as color rendition and quick shots are harder to impress in brick-and-mortar stores. Secondly, focal lengths exceeding 100mm offer practical benefits, providing a sense of spatial compression unmatched by medium telephoto lenses.

However, super telephoto lenses aren't suitable for everyone.

Currently, to obtain high-quality super telephoto photos, you need at least a lens with a sufficiently long equivalent focal length or a large pixel count and sensor area. For example, the vivo X200 Pro chooses a 200-megapixel sensor with an ultra-large sensor, while the OPPO Find X7 Ultra opts for a 135mm equivalent telephoto lens.

The issue with large sensors and high pixel counts is that the entire device becomes quite bulky. As a user of the X100 Ultra, I can clearly feel that this imaging powerhouse is significantly heavier than other flagships released around the same time. Including the camera bump, the X100 Ultra measures 14.9mm in thickness, sacrificing everyday usability for imaging capabilities. However, as a photography enthusiast, I'm willing to trade off some usability for superior telephoto capabilities, which might not be the case for average users.

(Source: Lei Technology's coverage)

Nonetheless, this year's new batch of offline mid-range flagships has also reintroduced periscope telephoto lenses, such as the OPPO Reno13 Pro, vivo S20 Pro, and Honor 300 Ultra, all opting for the IMX882 for 3x optical zoom, equivalent to a 72mm medium telephoto lens. Thanks to the support of large AI models, they can still achieve hundredfold zoom imaging through algorithms and high pixel counts, providing a much more practical experience than when Samsung and Huawei first introduced hundredfold zoom technology in 2020.

Returning to the initial question, is super telephoto merely a marketing tool for manufacturers? I believe it's not. Whether wide-angle, medium telephoto, or telephoto, each focal length has its unique charm. Since smartphones cannot freely choose lenses like cameras, manufacturers use different hardware combinations and AI algorithms to help users achieve a better photography experience across all focal lengths.

The reason why super telephoto lenses have become the target of pursuit for current manufacturers is mainly due to the advancement of higher-specification sensor technology in main cameras and the maturity of wide-angle to medium telephoto relay algorithms. However, telephoto capabilities cannot currently be solely calculated using large models, making high-specification telephoto sensors the new favorite among manufacturers.

Source: Lei Technology