As we saw last month with the winners of the Annual Mobile Photography Awards, phone cameras can be used to capture truly incredible images. But OnePlus is looking to take things to the next level, announcing a three-year partnership with Swedish photography giant Hasselblad.
OnePlus says that the partnership will initially involve color tuning and sensor calibration by Hasselblad, and will move into the development of novel imaging technologies over time. And indeed, the first fruit of the partnership has already emerged with the creation of a new color solution called Natural Color Calibration that will be used in future smartphone camera systems – though no details have been shared at this time.
OnePlus has also tapped into the imaging expertise of Hasselblad's brand ambassadors for insights into mobile photography, while also announcing a major investment in new technology development, including "a panoramic camera with 140-degree field of view, T-lens technology for lightning-fast focus in the front-facing camera, and a freeform lens that practically eliminates edge distortion in ultra-wide photos."
The new color solution and freeform lens will debut in the upcoming OnePlus 9 Series smartphones, which will launch on March 23. We don't know a great deal about the 9 series at this point, but OnePlus has revealed that the camera system will be built around Sony's IMX789 imaging sensor (which offers 12-bit RAW format support), and it will offer vloggers 4K video capabilities at up 120 frames per second or 8K at 30 fps.
This is not the first time we've seen Hasselblad snuggle up to a smartphone maker of course, we took the Moto Z's True Zoom mod for a brief spin back in 2016 and came away fairly impressed. And the company has branched into the drone photography space too, with the help of DJI. It will be interesting to see where this new partnership leads.
Source: OnePlus