What was the first company to start the “smartphone brand partnering with photography icon” wave? If memory serves me correctly, it was Huawei with Leica in 2016, though some would argue that Nokia shook hands with Zeiss on several models before then. Zeiss is more of a lens powerhouse than a general photography brand, though.
Either way, that brand of partnership is still around and doesn't seem set to go anywhere. Oppo joined the party, choosing Hasselblad as its partner, back in 2022. Today, both companies reaffirmed their commitment to work with one another, so if you're a big fan of Oppo's current optics, things will only get better from here.
Oppo and Hasselblad Plan to Continue Their Perfect Photographic Partnership
The Oppo Find X5 series seems like it was released quite some time ago, but that was only 2022. One thing that made that series of devices so notable was that it was the first time Oppo was collaborating with Hasselblad, the iconic photography company, on its smartphone cameras. That partnership seemed to have yielded fruitful results, because ever since then, the two companies have stayed together, in perfect synergy.
If you've been a fan of the photo work on newer Oppo (or OnePlus) flagships, then you're going to like this. The two companies have just announced their partnership will forge onward, which means we're bound to see a lot more of the good stuff that we're used to. This collaboration brings a bunch of exclusive Hasselblad-fueled features to Oppo phones, including:
- Hasselblad Natural Color Solution
- Hasselblad Portrait Mode
- Hasselblad XPAN Mode
- Hasselblad Master Mode
If working with Hasselblad is what lets Oppo deliver phones like the Find X8 Pro, with a camera system as kick-ass as it has, then long shall it continue. It'll be exciting to see what the companies have planned for the future.
The Companies Are Developing a Next-Generation Mobile Imaging System
Speaking of what Oppo and Hasselblad might have planned for the future, there's a little bit of a teaser towards what we can expect. In their words, the companies are codeveloping a “next-generation mobile imaging system.” There isn't much we know, beyond the expected fluff of a “new standard for quality” and a new “experience in mobile imaging”. However, we're told we can expect to hear more later this year.
Oppo Has Set a Lot of Milestones in the Mobile Imaging Space
Even though Oppo's collaboration with Hasselblad might make us lean towards giving the latter a lot of the credit, the company has been doing significant things in smartphone photography for a long time. Oppo says it has been innovating in mobile photography for the last 17 years. That's notable. The table below will give you a glimpse at a few of the major milestones in Oppo's imaging history.
| Year | Milestone |
| 2012 | First stacked CMOS sensor |
| 2016 | Smartphone camera pixel binning |
| 2017 | First periscope telephoto camera |
| 2022 | Collaboration with Hasselblad |
Considering Oppo's history with the smartphone camera, we can expect the company to do a lot more going forward. Plus, being partnered with Hasselblad could mean even more exciting things to come.
