Phones with PDAF (Telephoto)

PDAF (Phase-Detection Autofocus) is a focusing method built on dedicated focus pixels on the sensor: pairs of pixels look at the same scene from two slightly different angles, which lets the camera compute how far and in which direction to shift focus in one step. The old contrast-based hunting back and forth is not needed.

For the user it means speed: because focus is computed rather than found by trial and error, shutter lag shrinks, moving subjects — children, pets, sport — get caught instead of missed, and while filming, focus glides rather than jumps when the scene changes.

The value on this page says phase-detection focus is present on the telephoto lens. Fast focus is especially valuable there: in a narrow frame a small movement takes the subject out of shot, and because depth of field is shallow at long focal lengths, a focus error becomes visible immediately.