Fujifilm is reintroducing the hybrid instant camera with a design and feature refresh that leans hard into selfies, social sharing, and brief audio nostalgia. The new instax mini LiPlay Plus updates the company’s 2019 LiPlay model with a boxier, modernized shell, a second rear-facing wide-angle camera aimed at easier self-portraits, and the same hybrid idea at the heart of the original: shoot digitally, print on instant film moments later.

The LiPlay Plus keeps the core hybrid DNA — digital capture, on-demand printing to instax mini film, and the quirky LiPlay trick of pairing photos with sound — but it rearranges the hardware and experience for people who want selfies to look and feel simpler to take. The new body moves away from the rounded toy-like silhouette of the first LiPlay toward a squarer, more contemporary profile, and a slightly larger 3-inch LCD on the back gives you a clearer preview of what you’re about to print.

Under the hood, the camera uses the same image resolution as its predecessor: both front and rear cameras record at 2,560 x 1,920 pixels, so the digital capture remains modest by smartphone standards, but tuned for the instant-format workflow rather than high-res archival photography.

Fujifilm markets the LiPlay Plus as a premium evolution of the LiPlay line, positioning the Plus model as the first instax camera with a dedicated selfie camera in the instax family and rolling the launch out globally at the end of October 2025.

Two small hardware choices change how people will use the camera. First, the added rear-facing wide-angle camera is meant to make framing group selfies easier when you’re holding the camera and looking at the display instead of angling the lens outward at arm’s length. Second, a layered photo mode lets you combine images from both cameras into a single print by stacking two photos using one of four templates, which preserves the instant-print charm while giving a simple composite option without traditional double-exposure complexity.

The LiPlay Plus ships in sand beige and midnight blue colorways and will be available with matching cases, a cosmetic push that signals Fujifilm’s continued aim at lifestyle buyers who treat instant cameras like fashion accessories as much as gadgets.

The original LiPlay stood out for audio-enabled prints: each image could be linked to a short sound clip that played on compatible devices after scanning a QR code printed on the photo. The LiPlay Plus keeps the sound feature and the QR-backed experience, and Fujifilm says audio clips will be stored and accessible for up to two years. You can play back the audio on the camera or through the mobile app, keeping the multimodal memory intact.

There is a notable compromise: while the first LiPlay allowed 10-second audio clips, the Plus trims that to just 3 seconds, shrinking the storytelling window to a succinct bite rather than a short sentence or ambient moment.

The companion instax mini LiPlay app remains central to the workflow: it lets you edit photos, apply filters, add stickers and frames, share to social platforms, and print directly from your phone via Bluetooth. The app also functions as a remote shutter for group shots, which—combined with the dedicated selfie camera—makes including yourself in prints easier without awkward arm-stretching or guesswork.

Because printing is immediate and tactile, Fujifilm’s approach continues to treat the physical print as an endpoint you don’t need a darkroom to reach. That short loop from capture to physical object remains the product’s emotional appeal even as the company borrows conveniences from smartphones.

Fujifilm plans to launch the instax mini LiPlay Plus on October 30, 2025, with an MSRP of $234.95 and two body colors at rollout. Alongside the camera comes a new Soft Glitter mini instant film that adds gold-accented frames, sold in ten-exposure packs priced at $17.99, a clear signal that Fujifilm expects users to print frequently and value decorative, shareable frames for those printsFujifilm Wako Chemicals.

The LiPlay Plus is an example of an analog-adjacent product trying to stay culturally relevant in an era dominated by smartphones. Fujifilm’s choice to add a dedicated selfie camera and beef up the on-device preview suggests the company is betting that people still want physical photos, but they want them on terms that match modern social habits: quick, flattering selfies; filters and frames; and short, shoppable bursts of personality like QR-linked audio.

That bet won’t sway everyone. The camera’s limited resolution and short audio clips might feel like concessions to design and battery life priorities, and for many creators, a phone plus a portable photo printer is already a solved problem. For others, though, the LiPlay Plus packages a playful, tactile ritual around image-making that a smartphone can’t quite recreate: the decisive click, the mechanical whirr, the frame you can hand to someone and keep on the fridge. Fujifilm is clearly banking on that small, analog joy carrying forward into the selfie age.