HTC phones may have optical zoom capabilities two years down the line, a senior representative of the company said in a recent interview.
In a Vodafone blog post, HTC's Symon Whitehorn said HTC phones will soon breach the camera turf and take over.
"What will happen is that we'll take over more and more of those daily roles (which cameras perform), and make it harder to justify taking out a big camera. That's already happened with the compact camera market. I think we're looking at about 18 months to two years until that lens barrier begins breaking down and it becomes much harder to justify buying a dedicated camera outside of specialist or nostalgia reasons" he said.
Indicating that HTC is working on optical zooming for its phones, Whitehorn said, "Optical zooming in a smartphone is not too far off at all for HTC. I can't give too much away, but within 12-18 months we'll see huge advances in phone optics. That's why we don't necessarily believe in doing a high-resolution, photo enlarging solution." He added that two years ago he would have dismissed the notion that phones could replace SLRs.
He also mentioned his company has already outperformed many compact cameras with its ultrapixel technology. The technology has been featured on HTC's flagship phones since last year. The Ultrapixel phones feature cameras with low resolutions but with larger pixel size that promise high quality images.
Whitehorn, however, pointed out in the blog that that camera industry does not need to feel threatened. He said cellphone makers and camera manufacturers can work together in the future.
Talking more camera technology, he also stated that HTC wants to own the "Selfie".
He said the front camera is no longer an afterthought and 90 percent of photos taken in some markets are selfies. That said, his company does not believe in putting the best of available cameras in terms of resolution in the front, but rather customizing it for specific roles like using an ultra-wide lens and improved digital correction.
