Why do we make double-triple-quadruple eyed cameras in smartphones instead of just improving the specs and keeping one lens?
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To be able to zoom in on a picture and magnify part of it is typically done in one of two ways.
You can take the same initial picture and then zoom/crop it digitally – this means you get a nice simple lens design, but when you soon in you let the resolution and quality of your image.
The alternative is to zoom in optically by using a lens with a variable focal length, which retains quality, but is much larger and bulkier.
So in devices where quality is more important than size – such as a dedicated camera – you will generally see lenses that can optically zoom. In devices where size is important – like phones – fixed focal length optics are normally preferred.
One option to try and get the best of both worlds is to use multiple lenses. So rather than using one lens that zooms throughout a range of different focal lengths, you can use two or more separate lenses of different magnifications to select between – for example one wide angle lens, with a second slightly longer lens that will allow you to zoom in a certain amount without degrading the quality.
The best part is that because these lenses are of a fixed focal length they are much slimmer, and will better suit a thin phone body, and given the shape of modern phones having them positioned side by side will be much more convenient than trying to justify to consumers why your phone is much thicker (to fit a zoom mechanism)
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