Now this looks interesting. The Alice is a micro four thirds camera without a screen and what seems to be minimal processing power. You clip your phone on the back to adjust settings, preview and review images. Al and the computational power of your phone for post-processing means a new dawn in photography. Apparently.
They are developing and crowdfunding it at the moment. I like the idea and wish them well. The Samsung Galaxy NX was years ahead of its time. We just didn't realize it at the time. If this takes off the more traditional camera manufacturers will have to catch up. The
Leica M-D (Typ 262) digital rangefinder doesn't have a rear screen either, but it will work on its own without a phone. It is not clear to me if the Alice can go it alone. Looking at the lack of controls on the body, probably not.
This is something that Ricoh could look into. A low(ish) budget mirrorless full frame K mount body that hooks up to a smartphone, perhaps? That would be a unique selling point. Any sort of marketable USP is rather lacking in the Pentax lineup at the moment. Things like the ability to track the stars for long exposures is nice to have but the market for that sort of thing is
tiny not very large.
MFT ?Alice? concept camera promises smartphone AI with interchangeable lenses: Digital Photography Review