Why does the Lumia 1520 camera zoom far less than my Lumia 920?

[Windows Central Question]

I noticed that the 1520 only appears to zoom 2x, however on my 920 I can zoom in much closer (still photos) Why is this?

I expected the zoom on the 1520 to be greater than the 920 because there is more pixels for the PureView to work with.

 

[RumoredNow]

You are correct. 1520 only zooms 2x.

Digital zoom is really a poor quality substitute for optical zoom. The theory with 1520 is that you are better off with no zoom and cropping in from a 16 or 18MP high res JPG. The result will look better.