Oppo has announced a new three year partnership with Swedish camera specialist Hasselblad, confirming rumours that future Oppo flagships will carry extra photographic clout.
We were tipped off to Oppo’s plans in mid January, when leaked images of the forthcoming Oppo Find X5 revealed Hasselblad banding on the rear of the device. Now the Chinese phone manufacturer has formalised that relationship.
According to Oppo, the new partnership will “focus on developing and delivering innovations in colour science to Oppo’s smartphone camera capabilities.” It also confirms that Hasselblad will “co-develop industry-leading camera technologies” for Oppo’s mainline Find series, starting with the Oppo Find X5 (or whatever the new flagship is called) in the first quarter of 2022.
Anyone who knows Oppo’s recent history won’t be massively surprised by this news, quite apart from the aforementioned leak. OnePlus formed an identical partnership ahead of last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro, and that company has now been integrated into the Oppo set-up.
Oppo directly references this integration as part of this latest announcement, talking about how the two brands have combined their R&D efforts. However, Oppo states that it will “elevate the strategic partnership to the corporate level”.
It’s actually quite a natural fit. Oppo has traditionally been considerably more interested in and adept at innovating within the mobile camera sphere than OnePlus. It was a pioneer in implementing a periscope lens, for example.
Colour science appears to be the thrust of this collaboration, with a particular focus on bringing “the most natural skin tone possible” to portrait photography.
