I might have been blown away already during Mobile World Congress 2026 by Xiaomi and Leica’s incredible Leitzphone that can take pro-level images, but Tecno’s concept might take things even further. By using various modules that snap onto a more standard phone body, this concept device can morph into various forms, including a huge zoom-lens-wielding cameraphone.
The phone’s core is basically a super-slim Android phone with a couple of connectors on the back. Those connectors allow it to interface with various modules that the company had on display at its MWC booth in Barcelona. As a keen photographer myself, it was naturally the giant zoom module that caught my eye first.
This accessory has an image sensor, a interchangeable lens mount and even a grip.
It’s not just a zoom lens that attaches to your phone’s existing camera, it’s a whole camera module in itself. There’s a large image sensor sitting behind that lens, with physical camera controls seen to the side. It basically turns the phone into a proper compact camera, using the display as the viewfinder. Cinema camera maker RED promised something similar with its Hydrogen One back in 2018 but the product never properly came to light.
Here is a sideview of the camera lens mount module attached to the phone.
The zoom lens itself is pretty huge, but as it’s removable — like lenses on a mirrorless camera body — Tecno would presumably offer a few different focal length options. It would let you use a smaller lens if you didn’t need quite as much zoom, but still wanted to take advantage of the bigger image sensor and physical controls.
The phone unit itself is very slim, but it only really needs a minimal camera setup and a small battery. The idea is simply that you’d add the camera unit, the much larger battery pack, or whatever other modules they create, which would then transform the phone into whatever you need it to be at that moment. They had accessories for a 3x camera lens, a wireless microphone that you clip onto your clothes, a wallet and even a speaker.
It’s a neat idea in theory, but Tecno says this is strictly a concept right now, so I don’t have much faith that it will be a real product I can get my hands on. Last year, Xiaomi launched an external camera unit that magnetically attached to your phone, and I loved the device’s quality, but, like many other MWC concepts, it didn’t materialize into a real product.
Watch this: Xiaomi 17 Ultra Review: The First Real DSLR Replacement
Read the full article here