Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Nokia phones of the future, you could pack a stellar camera as a headline feature.

Phone maker HMD on Thursday announced an exclusive partnership with imaging experts Zeiss that will see the two work together to develop cameras for upcoming Nokia phones.

Frustratingly, we don't yet know when exactly we we'll see a high-end flagship Nokia phone, but at least we know now that when we do it's likely to have a camera with Zeiss credentials. The two companies will be collaborating on all aspects of camera tech, meaning lenses, sensors, software -- the whole package.

The partnership is "very long term," according to HMD's chief marketing officer, Pekka Rantala, although he wouldn't specify exactly how long he meant by that. As for what we can expect the focus of the partnership to be, it looks like it could encompass anything and everything.

"Video is an area we could see a lot of innovation in," Rantala told CNET in a briefing. "Definitely AR is one of the big things. And we are here to brainstorm."

Nokia

It's not the first time Nokia and Zeiss have teamed up. They also worked together back in the noughts on the Nokia N series, which preceded the more recent Lumia line. In the Lumia series we saw some experimental technology from the two that resulted in the PureView brand, which was all about lossless images, and a phone that boasted a staggering 41 megapixels.

It's unlikely we'll see anything like that again from HMD. "The answer is not to emphasize one number when it comes to megapixels," said Rantala. Dual cameras, on the other hand, are "a very interesting idea," he said. "That will give new possibilities for a player like us to possibly explore new experiences."

For now HMD is concentrating on selling the Nokia 3, 5 and 6 (and of course the 3310), but it's at least given us some idea of what's coming next. "We have saved some space below three and above six for some expansion of the portfolio," said Rantala.

Presuming you can count at least to 10, that's a pretty self-explanatory hint.

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