Of the current popular smartphone brands, the Apple iPhone 5 has an 8-megapixel camera, the Samsung Galaxy S4 offers 13 megapixels, and the HTC One takes photos with a modest 4-megapixel unit. All three (and every other smartphone camera, for that matter) are set to be dwarfed by the new Nokia Lumia, which will reportedly allow for unheard-of 41-megapixel photos.

Nokia revealed their latest handset, titled the 1020, on Thursday, touting the camera as the device’s major selling point. The company claims that the camera will allow users to zoom in without losing focus, resolution, or quality on their images. Indeed, industry analysts have been quick to label the new Nokia Lumia’s camera as the best on any smartphone; nothing else even comes close.

However, whether or not the unparalleled camera will help the Nokia Lumia to achieve the sort of market prominence that has thus far eluded it remains to be seen. According to a survey recently executed by IDC, a well-known market research firm, camera quality is not a top priority for most smartphone shoppers. In fact, it’s not even in the top 10. The survey found that call quality, battery life, and web browsing are the main selling points that buyers look for in their smartphones. Cameras, meanwhile, are all the way down at 15, and the survey only included 23 features.

The reason camera resolution doesn’t matter that much to the average smartphone user is that they aren’t using the phone camera to take professional photos. From Facebook photo albums to simple phone photo software, the ways that most people browse photos these days don’t really demand thousands and thousands of pixels to look good, a fact that could make the Nokia Lumia 1020’s behemoth camera a moot point.

The Nokia Lumia was facing an uphill battle anyway. The phone is one of the few products on the market that uses a Windows operating system. Android and Apple’s iOS currently account for roughly 90 percent of the smartphone market, leaving little room for any other players to thrive.

The Lumia’s predicted premium price won’t help matters: a 41-megapixel camera is a seriously hefty piece of technology, and buyers who decide they want that in their phone will pay more for it. How much more? When the phone sees its United States launch date on July 26, it will come with a $300 price-tag, and that’s on top of a two-year contract.

Still, Nokia’s fearless movement into an innovative new space could be the kind of departure that moves smartphones into their next era and makes the camera an important component again. With a 41-megapixel camera, the Nokia Lumia 1020 would be the ideal phone for professional (or would-be professional) photographers. Until now, smartphone cameras have occupied a curious territory. They don’t take good enough photos to satisfy professional photographers, nor is their quality attractive enough to inspire the average person to take up photography as a serious hobby. The Nokia Lumia 1020 could be the phone that chances that, and if so, it will likely be successful, even if it is never more than a niche product.