Patent applications are always worth keeping an eye on for a hint of what might be coming down the pipeline from major manufacturers – and Canon has just filed an interesting one.
Patent JP 2026-132879 (P2026-132879A), just published by the Japanese Patent Office and reported by Japanese news outlet Asobinet, was filed by Canon and includes multiple lenses with a diffractive optical system that are designed for use with very small sensors – the kinds of sensors that are used in camera phones.
The three lenses themselves are listed as having focal lengths of 5.53mm, 6.79mm and 8.70mm, which on a smartphone sensor would work out to equivalent focal lengths of 45mm, 55mm and 70mm. The listed f-numbers for the three lenses are f/2.5, f/2.7 and f/2.9 respectively.
Naturally, patenting the lenses could mean any number of things. Personally I doubt that Canon is about to start producing its own smartphones, but it could be that the manufacturer is planning on releasing standalone lens attachments for smartphones.
Alternatively – and personally I think this is most likely – it could be that Canon is partnering up with a smartphone manufacturer to lend its tech to a handset’s camera module, the way that Leica does with Xiaomi phones like the Xiaomi 17 Ultra and Hasselblad does with the Oppo Find X9 Ultra.
Our own Gareth Bevan described the Oppo in particular as one of the best camera systems he had ever used on a phone.
I’d definitely be excited to see a smartphone come equipped with Canon camera tech – particularly if Canon’s excellent color science also arrived as part of the package!
Like many tech companies, Canon files patent applications all the time – indeed, it has actually been the Japanese company that files the most patents for more than two decades – and many of them never become released products.
Nevertheless, I’ll be keeping an eye on this one and will be interested to see whether anything more comes of it – after all, Canon has time and again shown itself to be a manufacturer that isn’t afraid to take risks and try new things.
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Check out our roundups of the best Canon cameras and the best camera phones – and who knows, maybe one day soon we will see some crossover between the two?
