Once again, Xiaomi is flirting with the idea of turning a phone into a camera—or is it the other way around? At this point, I am not sure. Looking at Xiaomi’s disregard for camera thickness and weight with its latest flagship phone, I’m starting to think Xiaomi secretly just wants to be a camera company. I do not know were there other concept like this after the Xiaomi 12S Ultra Concept Phone but there is another now.
This time, Xiaomi has unveiled its “Modular Optical System” (or is it called Mobile Optical System [CH]?), a wild attempt to blend the best of both worlds: the portability of a smartphone and the power of a proper camera. It’s like strapping a professional lens onto your phone—without, you know, duct tape.
At its core, this system ditches the idea of fixed smartphone cameras and instead offers a detachable lens-sensor combo that snaps onto the phone via magnets. No clunky pairing, no extra setup—just click and shoot. It even rocks a Micro Four Thirds sensor, which, in smartphone terms, is massive. Xiaomi calls this sensor the “Light Hunter X”. Fancy.
Of course, shoving pro-grade optics into a pocket-sized device isn’t easy. Standard MFT lenses are bulky, so Xiaomi redesigned everything from scratch. The result? A sleek, f/1.4 lens with a 35mm focal length, promising DSLR-like image quality without needing a separate camera bag.
And let’s talk about connectivity—no laggy wireless nonsense here. Xiaomi’s LaserLink tech enables high-speed, lossless image transfer at 10 Gbps. That means you can snap a photo, process it instantly, and have it ready to share before your friend even finishes adjusting their selfie lighting.
Will this ever hit the market? Maybe. Maybe not. But one thing’s clear: Xiaomi really, really wants to make cameras. Words aren’t enough to express how high-tech this lens-with-smartphone combo is. Instead, we invite you to watch the video—courtesy of Xiaomi—below to get a sense of how crazy (in a good way, that is) this concept is.
Images: Xiaomi [CH].
