Few smartphone lenses cross boundaries between devices and operating systems without upgrading the case or mount — but Olloclip’s latest accessories are designed to adapt the mobile lenses to nearly any device. On Thursday, August 30, Olloclip announced the Multi-Device Clip, an accessory that allows the company’s new Connect X lenses to work with most smartphones. The company also says the new clip works with “many other devices” — which could mean compatibility with some tablets.
The Multi-Device Clip uses a clip design (after all, it is in the Olloclip name) but adapts the design with an expanding clip. The company says the clip adapts for a proper alignment between the lens and the device’s built-in camera, keeping the lens flush over the glass of the existing camera even with different sized smartphones. Along with working with most smartphones, Olloclip says the clip works with thin cases and screen protectors with a combined thickness of up to 12mm.
The new clip is compatible with all the Connect X lenses, Olloclips’ lenses that originally launched for the iPhone X. The lens family includes six options (some of them with multiple lenses in one) from super wide to a 21x macro lens.
“The Multi-Device Clip is unlike any product on the market,” Todd Williams, global sales director at Olloclip, said in a press release. “It remains our goal at Olloclip to continually enhance consumer’s mobile photography experience through the most compact, accurate, and easy-to-use products. We designed the Multi-Device Clip to serve the greatest range of smartphones, including those with a screen protector or thin case, for ultimate versatility.”
The compatible Connect X lenses include a Super-Wide 120-degree lens and an Ultra-Wide 155-degree lens with an action-camera-like view. A 2x telephoto lens is also part of the lens series, along with a fisheye-macro combo lens. Additional macro lenses in the series are available as a 7x and 14x combo lens and a microscopic 21x lens.
Because the clip isn’t designed for a specific device, users have to switch the orientation to move from the back to the front camera, unlike Olloclip’s existing clips that allow for using two lenses at once on the selfie camera and rear-facing camera. The multiple-device compatibility could help make the lenses accessible to less popular smartphone models, as well as opening up the possibility of using the same accessory through multiple smartphone updates.
Olloclip says the clip fits most smartphones, but doesn’t specify which models may not work with the new clip.
The new clip is slated for arrival in mid-September. The clip will sell with any Connect X lens for $60, with additional lenses available separately beginning at $45. Olloclip says it will also make the clip available without lenses for users that already own Connect X lenses.
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