Nokia is known for making some awesome cameras in its smartphones, but they are available for quite the price.

Microsoft and Canon recently signed a cross-licensing patent deal which has ignited hearsay that Microsoft could use Canon’s patents and software for improving Nokia’s PureView technology.

Nick Psyhogeos, general manager, associate general counsel, IP Licensing of the Innovation and Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft, said the following:

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“This collaborative approach with Canon allows us to deliver inventive technologies that benefit consumers around the world. Microsoft believes cooperative licensing is an effective way to accelerate innovation while reducing patent disputes.”

Canon-powered lenses on Nokia smartphones incoming?

The official statements say that the deal affects “a broad range of products and services each company offers, including certain digital imaging and mobile consumer products”.

So, in the best scenario, this means that we could see Canon-powered lenses on Lumia smartphones in the future. Nokia’s Lumia range delivers impressive photos, but only when you are ready to shell out a nice amount for top-notch smartphones.

Everything in mobile these days seems to be targeting emerging markets and cheaper smartphones represent a great opportunity to gather more subscribers.

Perhaps one of the reasons for this patent agreement is for Microsoft to be able to bring great cameras in cheaper smartphones. If it manages to do this, then Windows Phone have another strong point in their unequal fight against Apple’s iPhones and Android devices.

The contents of the agreement have remained private which could hint to the fact that Microsoft is planning to deploy these technology in future products.

We could go as far as assume that Canon’s lenses could be used in Surface tablets, such as the elusive Surface Mini, but I’ll guess that we’ll have to wait for more leaks or an official statement to know more on this.

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