Huawei Ruiying Z10 leak show a 1-inch camera that uses your phone as its screen

Huawei’s leaked camera accessory reportedly packs a 1-inch sensor and 10x optical zoom, effectively turning the Mate 90 Pro Max into its viewfinder.

Huawei could be preparing to take a different approach with the Ruiying Z10, a leaked external camera reportedly designed to work with the upcoming Mate 90 Pro Max. A new post from well-known leaker Ice Universe appears to show the system in action, with the external module reportedly containing its own 1-inch image sensor and lens. In other words, this isn’t simply a teleconverter placed over one of the phone’s existing cameras. The module captures the image, while the smartphone effectively becomes its screen, control interface, and computing platform.

Sony explored much the same concept with its QX cameras back in 2013, including the QX100, which paired a 1-inch sensor and 3.6x optical zoom with a smartphone used as its display and controls. The DxO ONE followed in 2015, plugging directly into an iPhone and combining its own 1-inch sensor and fixed lens with the phone as its viewfinder. So the idea itself isn’t new.

This is the Huawei Mate 90 Pro Max, paired with an external camera.

It is important to emphasize that this is a true “external camera,” not a traditional external lens or telephoto attachment.

The external camera itself features an independent 1-inch sensor, with up to 10x… pic.twitter.com/FKhWFx1Xyh

— Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) September 29, 2026

Huawei Ruiying Z10 could offer a 1-inch sensor and 10x optical zoom

Leaks claim the Ruiying Z10 uses a 9.1–91mm f/2.0–f/4.5 powered zoom lens, equivalent to approximately 24–240mm on a full-frame camera. Combined with the reported 1-inch sensor, that would give it a genuine 10x optical zoom covering everything from wide-angle shooting to substantial telephoto reach.
On paper, that’s less like a traditional smartphone lens accessory and more like a premium compact camera that happens to use a phone for its display and processing.

There is some logic to separating the two. A smartphone simply doesn’t have the internal depth required for a conventional 24–240mm optical zoom paired with a large sensor. Moving the optics outside the handset removes that constraint, while retaining the phone’s large touchscreen, processing power, editing tools, and connectivity. It also resurrects the same question that followed Sony’s QX cameras more than a decade ago: if you have to carry a separate camera-sized accessory anyway, why not just carry a camera?

Huawei may have a better answer in 2026 than Sony did in 2013. Smartphones are dramatically more powerful photographic computers today, and a 24–240mm-equivalent zoom would make the Ruiying Z10 far more versatile than some earlier attempts at the idea.