The advent of small versatile mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets or digital tablets has resulted in a need for high resolution and reduced form factor cameras for integration into devices. However, due to the limitations of conventional camera technology, conventional small cameras used in such devices tend to capture images at lower resolutions and / or with lower image quality than can be achieved with bigger and better cameras. To achieve higher resolution with small cameras, cameras typically require the use of a photosensor (also called an image sensor) with a small pixel size and a compact and powerful imaging lens system. Advances in technology have reduced the size of the pixels in the photosensors. However, as photosensors become more compact and powerful, the demand for compact imaging lens systems offering improved image quality performance has increased.

Each element uses concave and convex elements to manipulate light, but they have two different purposes.

The five-element version can offer a focal length equivalent to 35mm in the range of 50 to 85mm and a field of view of 28 to 41 degrees, making it useful for a wide angle camera. Meanwhile, it is said that the three elements provide a 35 mm equivalent of a focal length range of 80-200 mm and a field of view of between 17.8 and 28.5 degrees, which would place it as a telephoto lens.