TECNO continues to break boundaries in imaging with their recent line of smartphones — the CAMON 40 Premier highlighting that claim as it’s one of the market’s midrangers that deliver excellent camera quality without compromising overall price.

At this year’s event, not only this marks the fifth anniversary of its annual Future Lens showcase, they are delivering two new innovations in mobile imaging.

Two New Tele-nnovation

From 2023’s W-Shaped Liquid Telephoto Macro Lens to last year’s (very mouthful) Tap Any Zoom Dual Prism Telephoto, TECNO introduces two new flagship-level telephoto zoom innovations for future smartphones.

Dual-Mirror Reflect Telephoto

First and foremost, this new type of telephoto tech is based on a smaller telephoto module 50% smaller than traditional systems.

That’s all thanks to its coaxial optical structure that enables an evern slimmer design slimmer without totally compromising the zoom performance.

Moreover, this type of telephoto module also creates a distinct “doughnut-shaped” bokeh and low-light shots that are also strong.

Freeform Continuum Telephoto

This is another breakthrough of TECNO in terms ofd telephoto zoom tech.

From the term itself, the Freeform Continuum Telephoto tech provides true continuous optical zoom from 1x to 9x. By that, it totally eliminates those unwanted “focal jumps” very apparent in modern-day smartphone camera systems.

TECNO says this achieves with a pro-grade zoom performance comparable to camcorders. Still, providing full image quality and sharp detail at every distance and angle.

Advancing the TECNO Image Matrix

That said, it’s not always limited to just announcing an upgraded camera hardware and advanced optics alongside an intelligent camera software experience . TECNO seamlessly bridges all of these with its already-existing imaging architecture, the TECNO Image Matrix (TIM).

The uprising brand is also committed to imaging that favors humans in all races, as well as providing industry-leading color science with their very first automated imaging lab collab with DXOMARK.

ICYMI, it unifies AIGC-enhanced hardware and intelligent algorithms. This system also powers technologies such as TECNO’s revolutionary Universal Tone (UT) technology that continues to deliver accurate and inclusive color rendering of diverse skin tones — eliminating the racial bias in image processing.

TECNO’s Universal Tone Demonstration at MWC 2025

Technology that understands culture makes it possible. Cultural accuracy at the center — cultural fidelity the core in mobile photography. And in the wisest words of Amateur Photographer’s Musa Bwanali, “Every culture has a story worth telling.”

Musa Bwanali of Amateur Photographer

In addition to that, she told her that TECNO truly knows the path they’re aiming for. “This is not just about technical progress. It’s human progress.”

Why Focus on Telephoto?

Shenghao Bai, a Senior Analyst from Counterpoint, has revealed that more and more phone brands have invested and applied telephoto and periscope zoom lenses among their smartphones during the first half of 2025 — regardless if it’s a flagship model or a midrange one.

Shenghao Bai, Senior Analyst of Counterpoint

Furthermore, periscope zoom lenses is the most challenging part among smartphones nowadays. Not only with all the varying sizes of lens modules, quality also differs from one brand to another.

TECNO’s latest tech developments in telephoto modules demonstrate the clear alignment with these trends. And it’s not just zooming in and capturing light. Also, intelligently understand scenes and intention of users.

Quick Fire Q&A

After the very-detailed presentation, some media friends were encouraged to ask anything and everything under the sun.

* These were answered in Mandarin by TECNO’s Director of Image R&D Centre, Xiaohan Huang, and was translated live for us by a human translator. The answers you will see here are non-verbatim and was simplified by the author during the writing process.

1. Is it possible to fuse these two new tech together?

Technically and mechanically speaking, it is impossible and incompatible.

Xiaohan Huang, TECNO’s Director for Image R&D

Other than the high-precision requirement, processing and manufacturing these modules are already very challenging to begin with.

2. Are there any realistic timeline for these to be available for users?

All I can tell is that, 2026 will be challenging for commercialization. For the freeform telephoto, it is very difficult. The two lens module groups in this unit have a high requirement for processing and manufacturing.

Laury Bai, TECNO’s CMO

On the other hand, the Dual-Mirror Reflect Telephoto is ready to be commercialized.

However, TECNO is still testing what will be the effect for its intended users. Commercialization and market-size are key factors for this survey.

3. Is TECNO re-considering to go back in making flagship smartphones (like the Phantom X2 Pro) or just focus on CAMON series moving forward?

There’s no definite answer to going back and moving forward. New technologies are very costly with an expensive sale price.

Hosted by Nicole Scott

That said, TECNO’s main goal is to focus and bring the latest and greatest to these users. This technique can solve the painpoints of mobile photography in the middle or lower-end spectrum of the market.

4. Is it possible to bring these two telephoto technologies to phones like the TECNO Slim?

If you don’t mind getting the bump thicker, it is doable. But realistically speaking, it is still too thick for this product — thicker than we wanted it to be. Therefore, it’s merely impossible to do it just yet.

Paco Zheng of Gizmochina

There are phone markets that are willing to sacrifice overall camera performance in favor of a pleasing design and appearance. Also, cameras aren’t only the bottleneck, battery longevity is for another.

Bringing it to the Slim series may not be possible (for now) but should be doable for TECNO’s another set of phone series.

5. When can the DXOMARK collab be seen in TECNO’s phones?

Even though the first fully-automated imaging lab was announced just this year, TECNO and DXOMARK has already established a long-term partnership for many years now.

The first fully-automated Imaging Lab by TECNO x DXOMARK in Chongqing, China

At TECNO, we clearly focus and prioritize on portrait shooting. And, with our heavy reliance on DXOMARK’s professional quantifiable benchmarking tools and technologies, we are hoping to further deepen this relationship.

With all that being said, the collab can be felt and seen by 2026 without a specific date.

Shaping the Future of Mobile Imaging

Building on innovations ranging from periscope telephoto lenses to full-system imaging frameworks, TECNO reaffirmed its ambition to make pro-grade imaging accessible across global markets.

Through continued research partnerships and advanced testing facilities, it aims to deliver more personalized, authentic, and creatively empower photography experiences both for professionals, hobbyists, and even just casual users.

Together with TECNO’s “Stop At Nothing” mantra, they will continue to focus on breaking through the boundaries of smartphone camera innovation for the next five years — and the foreseeable future.