Tecno announces variable apperture, liquid lens periscope coming to Phantom X series

Tecno held its Future Lens event in Shanghai this week and showcased three innovative technologies that we"ll likely see in future Phantom X cameraphones.

The first is a unique variable aperture, which Tecno calls a W-shaped adjustable aperture. It"s inspired by the eye of a cuttlefish and is designed to eliminate glare in harsh lighting conditions, like in strong backlight.

It"s a unique approach and we can"t wait to see what sensor and lens combo Tecno puts the W-shaped shutter in front of. Here"s a demonstration of the shutter in action.

Tecno also showed off the industry"s first liquid telephoto macro lens. We"ve seen liquid lens tech before, but we"ve never seen it in a periscope module. Periscopes are big and it"s a challenge to achieve macro focusing within the traditional two-section housing.

Tecno"s approach uses voltage to adjust the lens curvature, thus dynamically adapting it from long to narrow, achieving 5cm macro focusing. Tecno says that the liquid lens design allows a large sensor to be used.

Most phones use their ultrawide cameras for macro abilities. But their wider perspective brings a lot of distortion to images. Using a longer focal length, like in this case with a periscope zoom, is the way to true macro photography.

Tecno also once again detailed its Universal Tone technology. It uses three AI-powered engines to perfect skin tones in photos. The Multi-Skin Tone Restoration Engine calibrates and adjusts skin tones using a color spectral matrix, that"s based on skin color chromatic research.

The Local-Tuning Engine identifies people within an environment and plays around with tone mapping for a more striking image. Finally, the Computational Portrait Engine finishes it all with a pleasing aesthetic.

Tecno didn"t say which future products will get to pioneer the liquid lens and W-shaped aperture, but we"d put our money on the Phantom X cameraphone series. Hopefully, we"ll get to see these innovations as soon as the Mobile World Congress early next year.