In an interview with Digital Trends and selected journalists at Mobile World Congress 2022, smartphone manufacturer Oppo talked further about its newly signed partnership with Hasselblad. In a question put to the team and answered by Oppo’s Director of Imaging Simon Liu, the depth with which Hasselblad has been involved with the new Find X5 Pro’s cameras was revealed.
“Talking about the Find X5 Pro at the hardware level,” Liu said through a translator, “we sent the device to Sweden and [Hasselblad’s] professional hardware team for testing, so we could get the Hasselblad Natural Color Solution certification. Our future products will use customized sensors and before we finalize the specification, we will also discuss with Hasselblad how we can improve the photo quality through the hardware.”
Since OnePlus and Oppo announced partnerships with Hasselblad, it hasn’t always been very clear how much the camera maker has been involved with the cameras. Liu’s confirmation shows it’s more than simply shipping a software solution for use with the phone, and while he’s now Director of Imaging at Oppo he was formerly Imaging Director at OnePlus, so he’s familiar with both businesses. But will Oppo’s work with Hasselblad differ from OnePlus’s approach?
“After the integration [internal-link post_id="2722087" sponsored="false"]of OnePlus and Oppo[/internal-link] we are a unified team and we share the same resources,” Liu continued, “and if the direction we take proves to be correct in the Hasselblad partnership, we will share it and consider what we can offer to consumers through this partnership.”
However, don’t expect the Oppo and OnePlus cameras with Hasselblad’s name attached to take identical photos.
“We will share the camera technology across different series,” Liu continued. “But when it comes to the tuning and style it depends on the preferences of the target audience. If these are different, the style will vary.”
In an interview with Digital Day, Liu also talked about Oppo’s partnership with Hasselblad, saying it, “has no boundaries of any kind, and is not limited to color tuning.” He goes on to call it a collaboration rather than a partnership and says Hasselblad also gains from the work it does with Oppo.
The Find X5 Pro is the first phone Hasselblad has worked on with Oppo, and is the beginning of a three-year deal between the pair. It has previously worked with OnePlus on the OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Pro, and OnePlus 10 Pro, and is now a year into its three-year deal with the company.
