Samsung Electro-Mechanics made an announcement on March 1 that it is developing optical 10x zoomed folded camera modules and supplying them to global smartphone manufacturers.
It is the first time in South Korea to implement 10x optical zoom in a foldable form from a smartphone camera.
Optical zoom is a function of pulling distant subjects close to each other without deteriorating image quality, and it implements high magnification optical zoom as the distance between the image sensor and the lens becomes farther away from focus.
In 2019, Samsung Electro-Mechanics developed a foldable camera module that refracted light to the form of a periscope and secured a focal distance, and succeeded in implementing 5X optical zoom without 'camera extrusion'.
However, if the optical zoom scale is expanded even if a foldable method is applied, camera modules will increase in length and reduce space efficiency in smartphones.
To solve this problem, Samsung Electro-Mechanics developed a dual-folded camera module, which doubled the distance of ultra-high by refraction twice and increased the length of the camera module by only 25%.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics also applied its own lens that cut the top and bottom of the lens to reduce the height of the camera module. The lens is difficult to control the flatness that affects the light transmittance, making it difficult to produce.
Shim Ik-chan, executive director of Samsung Electro-Mechanics' module development team, said, "Camera modules have recently been used as a major differentiation point for smartphones, and market demands for ultra-small and high-scale optical zoom are growing."
He added, "Samsung Electro-Mechanics is supplying differentiated products that customers want with its own technology that designs and manufactures core components such as lenses and actuators."
