Leaks show Nokia’s next smartphone may have five rear cameras

Warning: Look away if you have intense trypophobia

Smartphones

Karen Chiu

Published: 8:45pm, 6 Sep 2018

Why you can trust SCMP

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Once upon a time… or, well, half a year ago, putting three cameras on the back of a smartphone felt like a novelty. Having any more than that seemed like a joke. (It actually was a joke!)

But if new leaks are for real, Nokia is pretty serious about the idea.

Photos posted to Baidu’s online discussion forum show what looks like five cameras on the back of a new Nokia device, together with a flash.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard rumors that Nokia is making a, uh, quintuple-camera phone.

Back in January, sources claiming to be from Foxconn -- a Taiwan-based contract electronics maker with factories in mainland China -- hinted at a five-lens handset. And as PhoneArena pointed out, it was previously revealed that HMD Global -- the company that now produces Nokia phones -- was working on a "high risk" set-up for its new flagship model.

As Huawei has shown us with their (triple-camera) P20 Pro, more is definitely better: One sensor is monochrome and the other has a telephoto lens, allowing it to capture more detail than a standard, single camera.

Another notable revelation from the fresh leak: It looks like the Nokia phone has no rear fingerprint sensor, suggesting it’ll carry either a front or an in-screen sensor. The latter feature was pioneered by China’s Vivo and has since appeared on several other Chinese phones. (And the former is just… not very 2018.)

China has become a major focus for Nokia since 2016 when it set up an office in Beijing. Several of their recent handsets were released first in China, including the X6, which hit the Chinese market two months before global launch.

Nokia might launch its X6 outside China too

But judging from reaction on Weibo, not everyone is so sure of the five-camera design.

“Good news for people with trypophobia?” wrote one person sarcastically, referring to the fear that some people have for surfaces full of holes.

Another asked, “Any manufacturers making a phone with cameras laid out like the Big Dipper?”

Nokia’s Matrix banana phone gets over 100,000 preorders in China

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