ZEISS vivo team-up promises innovation beyond the standard camera phone

The next generation of top-tier smartphone camera power is in the making with a new partnership between ZEISS and vivo. The two companies unveiled a plan to "establish a joint R&D program" that'll be called vivo ZEISS Imaging Lab, which will lead to their next major project, the "vivo ZEISS Master Photography" campaign. The first devices that'll benefit from this next-generation collaboration is the vivo X60 series smartphone family.

In the vivo X60 smartphone series, this new collaboration will deliver the first vivo ZEISS co-engineering imaging system. It's expected that the vivo X60 smartphone lineup will be revealed in the first half of the year 2021. Take a peek at the VIVO IFEA concept phone to see what's vivo is willing to do to expand and innovate in the world of mobile photography.

"The partnership between vivo and ZEISS is all about mobile imaging," said ZEISS Consumer Products Head Joerg Schmitz. "The breadth of ZEISS's decades-long expertise with optical technologies and imaging will enable vivo to enhance the imaging performance of its flagship smartphones."

The object of the game here is investment in optics in smart devices. The devices vivo makes are generally smartphones, and ZEISS doesn't often stray too far from creating camera-centric machines and smart camera systems for collaborating companies. Together, a long-term commitment between vivo and ZEISS could create an innovative new line of products the likes of which neither would be capable of creating on their own.

One would hope that more projects like the Android-powered ZEISS ZX1 camera would be made possible through this collaboration. With the camera power of ZEISS and the smartphone userbase and distribution system of vivo, we're crossing our fingers for more innovative products and next-generation solutions to image capture devices through the next year and beyond.