Phones with Floating telephoto (Super Macro)

A periscope telephoto folds the light 90 degrees with a prism and runs it lengthways through the body, so that a long focal length fits inside a phone. That is how real optical magnification is achieved without making the phone thicker.

A "floating" telephoto is a design in which one of the lens groups can move independently while focusing. The gain shows at close range: a fixed-group telephoto is built to focus far away and cannot focus close, while a floating design opens the same lens to macro work.

In practice that means close-ups through the telephoto — a macro frame taken from a distance, without crowding the subject, and with the background thoroughly separated.