Smartphone brand OnePlus is ending its five-year partnership with Swedish camera manufacturer Hasselblad, ahead of the planned release of the OnePlus 15 next year.
Since the 2021 release of the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro flagship smartphones, Hasselblad has provided OnePlus (and its parent firm Oppo) with its digital imaging technology, which refines and improves the images taken on its smartphones’ cameras. Later OnePlus smartphones have attracted broadly positive reviews from critics for their images.
OnePlus says it is now working on and testing its own imaging engine, the OnePlus DetailMax Engine. It says the new engine will use the “full potential of computational imaging to present scenes as they truly are, without over-beautification or distortion.”
“Computational photography has evolved significantly. It’s no longer about creating artificial enhancements or showing you a ‘fake’ moon that never existed,” said CEO Pete Lau in the announcement.
The CEO’s statement may well be a sly dig at Samsung, who were the target of online criticism in 2023 after allegations came to light that its smartphones were adding detail to users’ photos of the moon using AI. These rumours were later officially addressed by Samsung.
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The smartphone manufacturer didn’t provide much detail on the reasons behind the split, praising Hasselblad’s “craft” and “trust,” and saying the “partnership has delivered on every promise.”
The switch could also lead to some visual changes when it comes to OnePlus’s design. Hasselblad’s “H” trademark appears on the back of all new OnePlus models, which could change now that the companies have split ways, The Verge notes. Meanwhile, OnePlus’s parent company, Chinese consumer tech firm Oppo, is taking its relationship with Hasselblad in a different direction, and renewed its partnership with the Swedish firm in July of this year.
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About Will McCurdy
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