[reeses]

There's still a lot of room to push the laws of physics, although I'm not sure glass is the answer. I think manufacturing tolerances will be the biggest limit for inexpensive handsets.

If I play (hah!) stupid, I look at the flange distance and lens size for an SLR of any sort and compare it to a mirrorless camera such as the M9 or even NEX-7, I can get much higher quality on the same or smaller sensor with smaller lenses, especially in the normal field of view. This is purely based on that big empty space in the SLR. The main thing we'll have to give up is an expectation of a shallow depth of field, but "f/8 and be there" is why camera phones are useful anyway.

I've been impressed with the sapphire lens on the iPhone 5, all things considered. It's not what I would call a good camera, but perhaps coupled with a high-density sensor with an alternative pixel structure[1] and microlenses, it would not be unreasonable to expect 2013 "full frame" image quality in a mobile device in 2-5 years.

I don't want to burn my fingers trying to capture 4k raw video on my phone. Heat dissipation will become an issue, as it is on HDSLRs and MILCs.

[1] For example, http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&pre...