MWC 2017: Oppo unveils 5x dual camera zoom technology

By Chong Jinn Xiung February 28, 2017

Oppo has filed more than 50 patents for this technology
Offers further zoom thanks to new periscope style arrangement of optical elements in phone

MWC 2017: Oppo unveils 5x dual camera zoom technology

DUAL camera phones are increasingly becoming the must-have feature in a flagship smartphone.

At Mobile World Congress 2017, Oppo announced its new 5x dual camera zoom technology that it said would change the way people took pictures with their smartphones.

Up until recently, smartphone photography was limited as manufacturers could not fit optical zoom technology on a phone without making it thicker or adding an external attachment.

But that may soon change as Oppo has made a breakthrough with its 5x dual camera zoom technology. To date, the company said more than 50 patents have been filed for this technology,

Oppo’s new camera technology took almost a year to develop and it is said to be the world’s first periscope-style dual-camera technology for smartphones that is only 5.7mm thick.

According to Oppo, the technology offers 5x lossless zoom capability on a smartphone, a major difference from the current 2x zoom function available in the market today.

The dual cameras utilise wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The telephoto lens uses a unique periscope-style prism that directs light entering the camera by 90 degrees and sends the image through the telephoto lens when the user zooms in on a subject or object.

This shifting in the angle of the telephoto lens gives the lens the space it needs for a deeper zoom.

Oppo believes that with the 5x zoom capability users would be able to capture beautiful landscapes from afar as well as easily take portraits and close-ups.

Increasing the zoom range, however, amplifies the slightest vibration and movement, adversely affecting the clarity of images. To counteract this, Oppo has applied optical image stabilisation (OIS) directly to the telephoto lens that automatically senses vibrations and compensates in real time.

Since entering the smartphone market, Oppo has placed great focus on mobile photography as the defining feature of its devices and hopes that this new innovation will meet the needs of its customers - to capture beautiful images.

MWC 2017: Oppo unveils 5x dual camera zoom technology

Oppo has not announced any commercial product that will utilise its new technology. They did, however, showcase several prototype smartphones that used its new camera technology at MWC 2017.

Seeing is believing so check out Oppo's new zoom technology in action in the video below.