I noticed that this patent is credited to Ohashi-san, who has worked on GR lenses since the GR1 film camera. He is bottom left in the image below.
Image from this Japanese language DC Watch interview with the GR III designers.
RICOH GR III???? - ???? Watch
I think it's worth mentioning that this kind of patent has been filed before by Ricoh in the past - maybe 5 years ago. I mean patents for APS-C crop lenses for compact cameras longer than 28mm. It would take me ages to find them again, so I won't try. In that case it was not entirely clear whether they were for a GR or GXR modules that were left on the drawing board. Anyway, it never came to anything that time.
However, I do think there is a strong case for another GR model now. The GR III has been one of the few genuine hits in the whole camera industry recently, so the case for another model must be very strong.
Last edited by JPT; 09-11-2020 at 05:52 PM.