14 DAY TRIAL // Oppo attended the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this month and revealed a new and exciting technology for smartphones. The company announced the world’s first periscope-style, dual zoom smartphone camera at MWC.
Oppo’s new technology dubbed 5x incorporates telephoto lens in a smartphone, allowing for 5x zooming. The new camera has both a wide-angle and telephoto lens, while the latter is located in a periscope-style mechanism mounted at an angle of 90 degrees to other internal components.
The position allows the lens to move up and down parallel to the internal PCB (printed circuit board), rather than protruding out from the back panel, like on some other phones. The system allows the lens to have enough space for a longer zoom. Oppo also added a prism at the top of the mechanism, which alters the path of the light entering the camera by 90 degrees and directs photons to the camera sensor.
Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus also offers an optical zooming technology. Out of its two sensors, one is permanently zoomed in and the phone uses software to seamlessly combine the two lenses and deliver crisp images.
Oppo worked for over a year on the new technology
Oppo’s technology offers 5x lossless zoom capabilities, more effective optical image stabilization and enhanced focus. In addition, pictures are less blurry when using longer zoom ranges. Oppo said that it worked on developing the new technology for almost a year and filed more than 50 patents for the new mechanism.
“The ‘5x Dual Camera Zoom’ has opened up yet another realm of possibility in terms of smartphone photography, and is a reflection of our dedication to delivering on what our customers want and need - to take beautiful and clear pictures,” said Sky Li, OPPO Vice President and Managing Director of International Mobile Business.
Oppo has yet to announce which new phones will feature the technology, but the company is known to be working on an upcoming flagship, dubbed Oppo Find 9.