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With a small teaser, OnePlus announced their latest flagship smartphone, dubbed the OnePlus 9 Series, will debut on March 23 at 10:00 AM ET. The focus on the new device is largely centered around the camera system. This announcement comes in conjunction with OnePlus' new partnership with camera manufacturer Hasselblad.
"Beginning in 2021, we are making a concerted effort to significantly improve the smartphone camera experience for our users, with the expertise of a truly legendary partner in Hasselblad”Pete Lau, Founder and CEO of OnePlus
For those who are not familiar with Hasselblad; the company has over 75 years of camera and imaging experience. Hasselblad now wants to take that expertise and utilize it in the ever-popular smartphone space. The company plans to partner with OnePlus over the next 3 years to continue to co-develop and build upon the "Hasselblad Camera for Mobile".
The OnePlus 9 Series will be their first of many smartphones to utilize the Hasselblad Camera for Mobile. The new smartphone, primarily the camera, promises to have improved color accuracy, manual photography controls, 12-bit RAW image format, and a custom Sony IMX789 sensor.
Improving their own flagship camera systems is not the only thing OnePlus aims to accomplish with their new partnership. They want to position themselves as the leaders, pioneers, and innovators in the mobile camera industry. OnePlus has pledged to invest $150 million towards R&D of mobile camera technology. A large portion of the investment is slated to go towards building new research labs and developing experimental camera concepts.
Final thoughts
This sounds all well and good on paper, but companies have partnered with top-tier camera manufacturers like Leica and Zeiss before - with little to show for it. It will be interesting to see if this partnership will fall by the wayside like previous ones, or if it will boost the company up to the likes of Apple or Samsung. Only time will tell.
Stay tuned.