We are very close to seeing the first smartphone with three 200MP cameras
A reliable leaker posts on Weibo about an upcoming smartphone that will be a rear camera monster.
Upcoming smartphone could be first with three 200MP cameras
In the early days of the modern smartphone era, a phone with a 5MP rear camera was considered to be special. Remember, the first iPhone was released in June 2007 with a 2MP camera that was as basic as could be. It had no autofocus, no zoom, and no flash.
The Nokia N95 was the first smartphone with a 5MP camera
About three months before the first iPhone was launched, Nokia released what was the most feature-packed phone before the iPhone, the Nokia N95. While not a touchscreen device, it was considered a multimedia computer with built-in GPS offering turn-by-turn navigation via Nokia Maps. It also had an HTML browser as opposed to the barely capable WAP browsers that most mobile devices used at the time.
What kind of camera was on your first smartphone?
The Nokia N95 was the first smartphone to sport a 5MP camera (powered by Zeiss optics), which was one of the reasons it cost $750 at the time. By the time the great Android explosion of 2009 arrived, many new phones like the Motorola DROID had 5MP rear cameras. That same year, the Samsung Pixon 12 M8910 brought a 12.1MP camera to the table, although it was a feature phone.
Do you remember the Nokia Lumia 1020 and its 41MP camera?
The smartphone camera wars reached a temporary peak with the 41MP Nokia Lumia 1020 released in 2013. Since then, we've seen smartphones with 200MP sensors, which brings us to today's news.
Weibo post by Digital Chat Station about the triple 200MP cameras on the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max. | Image by Weibo
Post by Digital Chat Station says Oppo is testing a phone with three 200MP cameras
Reliable leaker Digital Chat Station (DCS) says that Oppo could be working on the first smartphone to feature three 200MP cameras. Posting on the Weibo social media site, DCS writes that an engineering sample of the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max is equipped with three 200MP cameras. The three cameras will include:
- 200MP Main camera: 1/1.3 inch sensor.
- 200MP Ultrawide: 1/1.5 inch sensor.
- 200MP Periscope Telephoto: 1/1.3 inch sensor.
The leaker notes that there is no confirmation that this is going to happen, but it is possible. If you feel that this is far-fetched, keep in mind that the Oppo Find X9 Ultra is equipped with a pair of 200MP cameras.
There is more exciting news about this phone. DCS says that it will be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro application processor (AP), which will be manufactured by TSMC using its 2nm process node. That means that the chip will also feature the Gate-All-Around transistor architecture that has the gate cover the channel on all four sides to reduce current leaks and improve the drive current. This reduces the time it takes for a transistor to switch from "On" to "Off" and vice versa.
The Oppo Find X10 Pro Max could be released this September or October
DCS says that the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max could be released this coming September or October. If this story sounds familiar to you, it might be due to an article that we published back in March that was also based on a Weibo post made by DCS. Back then, the leaker knew about the three 200MP cameras, the sizes of each sensor, but not the name of the phone involved. Our headline reflected that this was a mysterious device.
Now that we know that the first smartphone to feature three 200MP cameras could be the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max, I can remind you that at the end of the article we said that the manufacturer of this mysterious device had to be Vivo or OPPO. While we don't want to pat ourselves on the back, even more impressive was the caption used with a photo of the Oppo Find X9 Pro. That caption said, "The Oppo Find X9 Pro might get an impressive cameraphone successor."
Smartphone cameras have come a long way, and surely innovation and technology will take future iterations to places that we can't even contemplate right now. After all, for those of you who purchased your first smartphone in 2007-2009, did you ever think that you would see a smartphone with one 200MP sensor, much less three?
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