Oppo has already launched its next flagship phone — Find X9 Pro. Vivo will be doing so soon with the X300 Pro, which it has already revealed in China. Given that the phones are out in public, although in a limited way, we already know a lot about them. These are premium, nay ultra-premium, phones with the hardware that is top of the line and sets a new benchmark for smartphones of 2026. This means they come with top chipsets, plenty of RAM and storage, revamped camera systems built around extremely high-resolution 200MP sensors, and displays that are richer and brighter than ever. But of all things that the X9 Pro and the X300 Pro come with, I am most excited about the external lens that they will support.
Of course, this lens is an extra. In other words you will have to pay more for it. And I am not yet sure how good it is going to be in use. But I am excited because this is a step that pushes mobile photography into a new realm. It opens up new possibilities.
For several years now phone companies have been working hard at improving mobile phone photography. But all the low-hanging fruits have been plucked and increasingly it is evident that physics behind optics and sensors can’t be defeated with clever tricks. This is the reason why even now Nokia Pureview 808, a phone launched in 2012, can click photos that are almost as good or even better than what most flagships can manage in 2025.
Once the limits became clear companies started using computational photography. Most notably Google has shown with Pixel phones what is possible using clever software and tuned up image processing. But there are limits to that as well. There are limits to AI too. At the end of the day photography is all about light, lenses, sensors. And there is no bypassing physics that governs it all.
It is in this context I feel that the move towards external lenses is the next big thing in mobile photography. This is particularly important for telephoto shooting, because zoom is one thing that is hardest to do within small and petite shells of smartphones.
The approach is clearly visible with the Vivo X300 Pro and the Oppo Find X9 Pro. Both these phones come with a large telephoto lens that can be attached to the camera module. This lens then increases the optical zoom offered in the phone to a significant range. The Vivo lens, branded Zeiss, extends the phone’s optical zoom to 200mm. The Oppo lens, branded Hasselblad, makes the phone’s optical zoom 230mm. This is still not enough range to shoot birds and small animals. But it is enough of a range that you can actually carry your phone to a safari in Kenya and get fairly decent, if not spectacular photos, of bigger animals.
Of course, I haven’t used any of these telephoto lenses with these phones. And I am not even sure if Vivo and Oppo will be launching these accessories here in India. There are obviously optical challenges that are going to be there. An increase in optical zoom range is welcome, but it is almost certain that it will also mean a reduction in light gathering capabilities — read narrow aperture. Similarly, I do not know what sort of distortion these telephotos introduce, and whether the small image sensors in the phones can actually support such large lenses or not.
But as a trend this is a welcome trend. That is because it allows a lot of people, people who only shoot occasionally, to go by using their phones even in special circumstances. For example it will give phone-totting people in a wildlife park a chance of capturing better photos. Or it can potentially allow users to click better portraits on a sunny afternoon at a family gathering.
Be the first to comment