N.Z.Photography/Shutterstock
Despite all odds, Motorola continues to carry its brand in the smartphone space, putting out some interesting devices that include a foldable clamshell. Although the new Motorola Razr has yet to get an official upgrade, the Lenovo-owned company has been consistent with its other models, including those that come with a stylus and its remaining X flagship series. The latter is set to debut later this month, and it might be carrying with it an odd choice for cameras, demonstrating Motorola’s efforts to take a bite out of the mobile photography pie that has eluded it so far.
All smartphone makers naturally talk as if their latest phones deliver the greatest camera performance, but few can really be considered top players in that category. It isn’t always about the number of pixels crammed in a sensor, but that hasn’t stopped manufacturers from using that figure to fuel hype regardless of actual camera output. That said, pixel count does matter when taking into consideration other specs, which is what Motorola may be banking on with its next flagship, the Moto X30 Pro.
According to the company itself, this phone will bear a 1/1.22-inch sensor that’s considerably larger than most imaging hardware you’d find in smartphones today (via Weibo). That’s still smaller than the 1-inch Sony sensor that just debuted on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, but it might have another trick up its sleeve. The Moto X30 has long been rumored as the first phone to have a 200MP camera, and this teaser from Motorola matches the Samsung ISOCELL HP1’s sensor size.
Focal Point
Motorola
This is just the tip of the iceberg for the Moto X30 Pro. The strangest thing about the model won’t be its unusually large camera sensor, especially since Xiaomi already claimed that crown. Instead, it will be the use of three focal lengths in the camera system that could mean the removal of one traditional part of that group.
Motorola’s Weibo account revealed that the Moto X30 Pro will have a 35mm focal point at its widest. This will be joined by a 50mm telephoto that could have a 2x magnification, as well as an 80mm longer telephoto option. If this is an accurate description, it would suggest that the phone will ditch the ultra-wide shooter in favor of two telephoto cameras when some of its peers opt to eschew telephoto cameras to make way for a macro alternative.
Whether this will give the Moto X30 Pro an actual advantage over other high-end phones this year remains to be seen, literally. It sounds almost like a mixed bag, at least in the camera department, though the rest of the rumored specs are on par for a 2022 flagship. The Moto X30 Pro, which could go by the name Motorola Frontier in global markets, is expected to run on a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, bear a 6.67-inch 144Hz OLED screen, and boast 125W super-fast charging for its modest 4,500mAh battery.
