Liquid lenses may sound like a gimmick but they are coming to a 5 megapixel camera phone near you.

Promising to save battery power, reduce noise and continuously auto-focus, 500,000 liquid-filled lenses from Varioptics and Seiko are due for a Q3 release.

The technology has appeared in Samsung phones before but its unique benefits, in addition to being smaller and lasting longer than conventional lenses, is now being targeted a 5 megapixel cameras where the continuous auto-focus is required in video mode.

Are liquid lenses the future? May be not - their inherent benefits are currently unable to be maintained as image sensors improve and require more light but at current standrads, they’re bound to cause a splash.