- Realme has revealed its Interchangeable Lens Concept phone at MWC 2025.
- This phone has a one-inch camera sensor that can be paired with your existing Leica camera lenses.
- Realme’s phone also includes two conventional smartphone cameras if you want to ditch the full-sized camera lens.
Interestingly, realme told us that the device is actually running the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, which powered many flagship Android phones back in 2023. That certainly hints at a concept that’s been in development for a while.
What’s it like to actually use this realme concept phone?
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
Our first impression is that this is a cool idea but with questionable practicality. The biggest issue is simply the weight of the lens, making for awkward weight distribution as well. You definitely won’t be taking casual, one-handed shots. It’s also worth noting that the phone’s rear cover looks very similar to the recently launched Xiaomi 15 Ultra, although that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Would you buy a phone that supported your DSLR camera lenses?
0 votes
The realme Interchangeable Lens Concept also lacks a conventional telephoto camera owing to the space requirements for the exposed one-inch sensor. So, if you want to ditch the bulky camera lens module, you’ll have to rely on digital zoom. We’re also curious to see whether the phone offers lossless zoom based on the lens in use. For example, we wonder whether the 10x lens would offer 20x zoom at lossless resolution.
Unfortunately, our indoor meeting room wasn’t a great venue for photography, although we can confirm that the device works as expected. However, realme posted some sample photos online, as seen below. You should take some of these snaps with a pinch of salt until we can get our own samples, but it certainly paints an encouraging picture.
Realme’s device isn’t the only intriguing camera-focused concept we’ve seen in Barcelona, either. Xiaomi announced the Xiaomi 15 Concept as well, which is effectively a standalone camera and lens system that magnetically clips onto the back of a Xiaomi 15.
You probably shouldn’t hold your breath for a realme phone with interchangeable DSLR camera lenses any time soon. Nevertheless, we’re glad to see companies testing different approaches to smartphone photography.