At MWC Barcelona 2025 today, Realme showed off the Realme Interchangeable-Lens Concept that was unveiled yesterday. It is a smartphone that can use DSLR camera lenses. This is not a new concept with various similar systems that have been tried to be developed by several manufacturers such as Xiaomi and also Indiegogo campaigns since smartphones were first marketed almost 20 years ago.
What makes the Realme Interchangeable-Lens Concept unique is that it is the first to be shown to the public and I was among those who had the opportunity to see it working using four eyes a moment ago.
What is the Realme Interchangeable-Lens Concept
The Realme Interchangeable-Lens Concept simply confirms what many already know, which is that the camera on a smartphone is still not comparable to a real digital camera. In a demo at their booth a moment ago, Realme showed the difference in the quality of photos taken by the Realme Interchangeable-Lens Concept with an iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The device used for the Realme Interchangeable-Lens Concept is a device specially developed for this concept. It is not an existing device like Xiaomi did with the Xiaomi Modular Camera System which I also tried today.
What Realme representatives shared is that it is equipped with a 1″ sensor from Sony and paired with a flagship Snapdragon chip whose model was not revealed. Probably a Snapdragon 8 Elite which has the best ISP on Android devices this year.
The rear panel of the camera has a notch for a lens adapter to be connected to the body. Realme confirmed that the lens adapter used supports only M-Mount by Leica. It is interesting to see that Realme used two Leica lenses for their prototype device but Xiaomi did not collaborate on the Xiaomi Modular Camera System.
Good or Gimmick?
The two lenses supported by the Realme Interchangeable-Lens Concept allow for 3X and 5X optical zoom. When these two lenses are used, the focusing process must be done manually. In some of the photos taken, it is clear that the image quality of the Realme device is much better than the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The images are sharper, brighter, display higher details and also have a bokeh effect that looks more realistic. There is no noticeable noise even when the model is placed in a room with poor lighting. While the photos taken are beautiful, this is not a practical device.
The lens needs to be changed to go from 3X zoom to 5X zoom. The back panel of the device also needs to be cleaned to ensure that the image falling on the 1″ sensor is not blocked by dirt. It also makes the device too heavy to hold.
Realme simply says that this concept is designed to improve the capabilities of their smartphone cameras using algorithms. This concept will not be marketed anytime soon. But I want to ask you a question. If it exists, would you be interested in buying it or is your current smartphone camera system more than enough?