The Samsung Galaxy A80 is a Snapdragon 730-powered mid-range phone that would not stand out much from the crowd if it weren’t for its pretty unique camera swivel mechanism. Like the Asus ZenFone 6 and other swivel phones the A80 only has only one camera that can be used as both a main shooter and selfie camera.
Youtuber JerryRigEverything has now put the A80 through a detailed teardown process and discovered that the swivel mechanism is quite a complex piece of engineering that uses a stepper motor with a threaded shaft for raising and lowering the camera module.
At the peak of the extension the rotation of the camera is triggered through a clever gearing system. The camera ‘carriage’ is also running on rails at the side of the phone for smooth movement.
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The camera module itself features a 48 MP main camera with 1/2″ sensor, a 12mm-equivalent ultra-wide and a depth-sensing time-of-flight camera for bokeh simulation.
JerryRigEverything concludes that the A80 is one of the most over-engineered phones he has seen but that it’s quite difficult to take apart, and especially to put back together again, with many more screws to remove and reinsert than on more conventional devices.
No matter your opinion on the swivel design, it’s quite amazing to see how much engineering can be squeezed into the tiny body of a smartphone these days.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)