Nokia is apparently developing a phone with a 12-megapixel camera and optical zoom, sources inside Nokia and Carl Zeiss have said.

The bigwigs told Phone Report that Nokia 'will surprise the market with its offerings'. It is thought any new devices will be launched in September at Nokia World, or February next year at Mobile World Congress.

However, this news still comes later than other manufacturers launching 12-megapixel camera phones, such as Samsung with the Pixon 12 and Sony Ericsson with the Idou.

It's the optical zoom that's the interesting part to this equation though. It means that you'll be able to zoom into a shot at full resolution like you can with a compact camera, rather than just making the pixels bigger like with a digital zoom.

Although devices with an optical zoom have been released, none have taken off in the UK.