If the Galaxy S11 rumors are anything to go by, it's going to get some major improvements in the camera department. The Galaxy S11 is expected to be the first smartphone from Samsung to offer 5x optical zoom capability.
Samsung's existing conventional 2x telephoto optical zoom lens has optical image stabilization or OIS. Naturally, many are wondering if the 5x telephoto solution expected for the Galaxy S11 will have it too. That's because its telephoto solution will be fundamentally different from what's being used currently.
OIS on Galaxy S11's 5x zoom camera will be very useful
The company is expected to go with a periscope camera module for the Galaxy S11. To allow for 5x optical zoom on the device without the module protruding from the back, the sensor and lenses arranged sideways and the principle of reflecting light in a periscope is utilized. This method allows for a longer telephoto lens to sit flush with the body of a slim smartphone.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics has been making camera modules since 2003. It recently announced the mass production of a 5x optical zoom camera. What the company didn't say at the time is whether it features OIS as well. Since this module hasn't been used in a smartphone so far, that's not something known to the public just yet. It may ostensibly be the module used for the Galaxy S11.
However, we have discovered a patent application that Samsung Electro-Mechanics filed this week with the Korean Intellectual Property Office. The patent is for a periscope camera module with optical image stabilization. It further emphasizes on handshake correction which is what OIS makes possible. It offers some detail about how the OIS module within the periscope camera would work to reduce motion blur.
Optical Image Stabilization becomes even more important at higher zoom levels. With OIS already being present on its conventional telephoto camera, it would make sense for Samsung to want it on its periscope telephoto camera as well. That's also something for which customers will appreciate it a lot.
Granted, this is just a patent so it doesn't confirm anything, but there's an element of circumstantial evidence here. First, the patent is filed by the division that makes camera modules for Samsung. It was filed this week whereas most patent-based stories that you read about online are about patents that were filed many years ago. There's also the timing. We're only a few months away from the Galaxy S11's launch.
With rumors like ‘Hubble' being the codename of the Galaxy S11 camera, there are high expectations from the device in his department. So the possibility that this patent might be describing the Galaxy S11's camera can't be ruled out.
