While the Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Ultra were the stars of the show at MWC 2025, Xiaomi also generated a ton of interest with their Modular Optics Concept. In a nutshell, it’s a way for you to easily add on a lens to a custom version of the Xiaomi 15 to shoot even better photos with your smartphone. Let’s break it down to the basics.

“MagSafe-like” Snap-On Lens

While people from Xiaomi might not appreciate my use of Apple terminology, it is the easiest way to describe how easy it is to attach the custom Xiaomi lens to the also custom Xiaomi 15 that they showed off in Barcelona.

We’ve seen Xiaomi do similar things in the past, and we’ve also seen Realme’s take on having an interchangeable lens system, but the modularity on this is next level.

Massive Megapixel Count and Fantastic Sensor

One of the things Xiaomi is hoping will contribute to the “pro-level” snaps taken with this new camera system is a 100MP Micro Four Thirds Sensor. While we couldn’t really pixel peep on the floor of Fira Gran Via to see what the photos really looked like, theoretically, this should deliver photos unlike the already impressive snaps from the Xiaomi 15.

LaserLink Tech Makes This All Happen

If you’re worried about any sort of lag between the lens and the phone itself, Xiaomi is trying to put us at ease with their LaserLink Technology, which should provide “lightning-quick data transfers” between the module and the phone itself.

To be fair, the claim does seem to hold up because in the short time we were able to try it out, it responded to us toggling the focus ring and taking snaps with no noticeable lag at all.

Mirrorless Camera Experience

Mobile photography has improved leaps and bounds since we first saw the VGA-level snaps that we first got on Nokia phones of old, but there are some people who still prefer the tactile feel of a lens.

Xiaomi is also trying to bring that to the table here since you can manually focus using the ring on the lens. They’re also hoping to be able to control the aperture of the camera and even the zoom in the future as well.

It’s hard to say if (or, we’re hoping, when) things like the Xiaomi Modular Optics Concept will actually see the light of day, since it’s not the first time a smartphone brand has dreamed of being able to improve mobile photography in this manner. We do hope to see some version of this in the future, and the reps from Xiaomi we talked to during this trip are also hopeful that this will not remain a concept.

Time will tell.