Quadruple-camera setups on smartphones are not a question of “if” but “when,” DxOMark Image Labs believes. In an interview with AndroidHeadlines, DxOMark Marketing VP Nicolas Touchard said imaging systems comprised of multiple cameras are a logical method of circumventing the physical limitations of handsets – their inability to house large sensors while remaining relatively thin. Due to that reason, the French company specializing in benchmarks and consulting services expects triple-camera setups similar to the ones found on the back of the Huawei P20 Pro to soon become much more prevalent in the industry.

Smartphones with three lenses on their rear plates will hence become much more numerous “as early as next year,” Mr. Touchard said, citing both their natural advantages over attempts to implement larger sensors into handsets and echoes from the mobile industry. The argument that setups taking advantage of three or more cameras can deliver better image quality and superior zoom to their more traditional counterparts without requiring any compromises on the size of the final product has also been made by Huawei earlier this year, with the company’s P20 Pro Android flagship being rated as the best mobile camera ever created by DxOMark, surpassing even the critically acclaimed Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus and Google Pixel 2 XL.

Mr. Touchard’s prediction that triple-camera mobile systems are here to stay have been given more credence earlier this week when reports emerged that at least one model from Apple’s upcoming iPhone 9 series will feature three lenses on its back. Imaging solutions with multiple lenses are now also trickling down into the mid-range segment after becoming a mainstay in the premium price bracket; even Google is said to be adopting as much as two dual-camera setups with the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL after resisting that approach to mobile photography for two entire product generations.