Phones with Multi-zone Laser AF

Multi-zone laser autofocus is a distance-measuring aid for focusing: the phone fires invisible infrared laser pulses, derives the distance of different regions of the scene from how long they take to return, and drives the camera to the right distance in one move. "Multi-zone" means it measures the scene in regions rather than at a single point.

It earns its keep exactly where image-based focusing goes blind: dark rooms, plain textureless surfaces and close-ups. Because it reads distance rather than light, it stays fast and steady there too.