Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Nokia’s making camera phones with lens experts Zeiss again, and we can’t wait

Andy Boxall
By

5 phones ahead of their time
Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr
If there’s one thing Windows phones were known for, it’s the camera. That’s largely due to Nokia and optics-expert Zeiss, two companies that brought us excellent camera phones like the Nokia 808 PureView and the famous Nokia Lumia 1020. Now, the legendary collaboration is making a return, as HMD Global has announced an exclusive partnership deal that will see Zeiss and HMD work on new photographic systems for future Nokia smartphones.

If you’re unaware, Nokia itself isn’t making smartphones anymore — that honor has passed on to HMD Global, which is mostly comprised of ex-Nokia employees. Don’t pass this partnership with Zeiss as a mere branding exercise, either. The long-term agreement will see HMD Global and Zeiss work together on all aspects of Nokia smartphone cameras. Zeiss will collaborate on camera optics, of course, but it will also assist with the software experience, services offered, and even the screen quality of the phone itself. It’s exclusive, too, so we won’t see Zeiss’s work on any other phones.

Recommended Videos

HMD Global’s CEO Arto Nummela is understandably excited about the potential. He says he’s aware we want more than just a great smartphone camera today, and expect “a complete imaging experience that doesn’t just set the standard but redefines it.” He promises the Zeiss partnership will help Nokia deliver this.

Related

While the 2012 Nokia 808 PureView, or 2013 Lumia 1020 are probably the last Nokia camera phones with a Zeiss lens to wow smartphone photographers, the partnership extends back to 2005, and produced many other notable camera phones in Nokia’s highly regarded N Series, including the award-winning N95. At the time, there was nothing quite like the N95’s 5-megapixel, f/2.8 aperture camera; it was arguably the first “modern” camera phone, and extremely influential in the industry.

It’s not just this history that makes us excited to see the first devices from HMD Global and Zeiss. Huawei and Leica have shown how successful a camera-related partnership can be today, with the superb dual-lens camera on the Huawei P9, Huawei P10, and the Huawei Mate 9. We’re hopeful a Zeiss-equipped Nokia phone can meet the expectations many will have of it; there’s no news yet on when the first models will arrive.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Andy Boxall
Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
Nokia’s new phone is so tough, you can almost pressure wash it
Nokia XR21 in green, in water.

The Nokia name has long been associated with tough phones, but HMD Global’s new Nokia XR21 goes a step beyond what we’re used to seeing. It has an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, which joins a MIL-STD-810H toughness rating, but it also adds IP69K to the list. This unusual rating, which we can’t recall seeing on another phone, means the phone can resist very high-pressure jets of water, dust, or steam coming at any angle.

How much pressure are we talking? The company says you can hit it with a 100-bar pressure stream of water at up to 80 degrees centigrade, and it’ll carry on working. To put that into context, most home pressure washers operate at around 100 bar, so you should be able to give it a very thorough cleaning under a tap without concern.

Read more
The Nothing Phone 2 just got a spec upgrade I can’t wait for
Nothing Phone 1 Glyph Interface lights.

Nothing, the buzzy consumer electronics upstart from former OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, has just announced plans for its next smartphone venture. At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023, Pei divulged that the company’s next phone will use a flagship Qualcomm chip. 
Pei confirmed that the upcoming Nothing Phone 2 will come equipped with one of Qualcomm’s top-end Snapdragon 8 series processors. However, he stopped short of confirming the exact chip.

Is it the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 inside?

Read more
Why Nokia made an Android phone it wants you to tear apart
The Nokia G22 broken down into its component parts.

HMD Global is making it easier to repair your smartphone. It has announced the Nokia G22 as the first to qualify under its new “QuickFix” program, which is aimed at minimizing the effort, knowledge, and expense that’s usually involved in replacing a broken screen or a battery that’s past its prime.

The company also has a couple of other new Android phones aimed directly at budget-conscious buyers, and all of it is part of the company's big Mobile World Congress 2023 launch lineup. Here's a look at everything that's new.
Nokia G22

Read more