Five-camera phones are coming soon, because sure, why not?

Peer into the future — or a future, at least. Having otherwise run out of things to improve on, Nokia brand licenser HMD is apparently bringing a five-camera phone to market (well, six, probably, if you count the other side). Because three or four would be taking the easy way out.

The leaked image of the upcoming phone lines up with sketches and a recentish patent from lens makers, Zeiss. The cameras are lined up in a circular array, along with the flash, leap frogging that new Huawei handset that settled at a mere three. 

So, why five cameras? The obvious answer is why not, because whatever, I guess. I mean, we only go around once of this crazy planet of ours once. The more specific answer is a bit more difficult to suss out the image alone, but going with that number is one way not to have to choose between things like zoom and a secondary monochrome.

As has been noted, Nokia (the actual Nokia, that is) had a history of innovating on the imaging front from that 41-megapixel to the stupidly expensive Ozo VR rig. So at very least, this could be nice little homage to the Nokia of yore. How you’ll actually hold the whole thing without touching the lenses every time, on the other hand, is another question entirely.