Cory Gunther
These days smartphones have more cameras than ever before, and they keep getting bigger. As a result, phones have huge camera bumps on the back that can be quite annoying. Camera bumps make phones wobble on tables, gather dust, and result in thicker cases.
And while we’ve seen a lot of different approaches to this, including the sideways periscope camera in the Galaxy S21 Ultra, the company Oppo has a different solution. This week, Oppo unveiled a retractable camera that moves in and out, similar to a digital camera. Here’s a quick look at it in action.
As you can see, this potentially allows for a much thinner overall phone without a traditional camera bump, yet could still deliver a high-end camera experience. Unfortunately, Oppo isn’t sharing too much information yet, so we’re unsure of what to expect.
We don’t know if this retractable camera will offer improved telephoto zoom capabilities or if the goal is only to provide a big camera without a bump.
Judging by the device in the video above, we can see text on the phone suggesting a 1/1.56-inch sensor size offering a 50mm focal length and f/2.4 aperture. It looks like the same 50MP primary camera from other Oppo phones, which, again, doesn’t give us any answers.
In closing, the teaser video suggests Oppo’s new retractable camera has fall detection that retracts the camera when you drop the device, similar to what we saw from pop-up selfie cameras a few years ago. Either way, Oppo will have more to say next week, so stay tuned.
Source: Oppo Twitter
