OPPO’s Find X2 Pro, announced last Friday, was the first smartphone to feature Sony’s latest camera sensor. The sensor has a 2×2 on-chip lens which allows for a new focusing technique called omnidirectional autofocus. Today they have shared a new promo video showing the new feature and although it is light on details it shows the great promise of omnidirectional focusing.

The new video was originally shared on Weibo before being up loaded to YouTube but you can be certain that eventually OPPO will share it with the world when they start their worldwide marketing campaign.

What OPPO call omnidirectional autofocus is a step on from Dual Pixel Autofocus in which every pixel in the sensor has two photodiodes meaning that it can also be used for focus detection. Regular Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) only uses a small number of pixels to focus but there are disadvantages to Dual Pixel Autofocus which occur when the dual pixels are operated in horizontal patterns rather than the vertical patterns that they are arranged in.

Omnidrectional Autofocus has no such issues with the pixels split into four photodiodes allowing the phase detection to work in both vertical and horizontal directions. When OPPO said they were going to focus on producing a premium camera experience on their newest smartphone it was with this new omnidirectional focusing leading the way. The end result is of course topping the DxOMark scores, for what they are still worth.

Worldwide expansion continues in the face of COVID-19

China Daily have sat down with OPPO’s global marketing president, Wu Qiang, to discuss their plans moving forward as the smartphone market contracts in the face of the Coronavirus and its effects. After their overseas sales surpassed Chinese sales for the first time in the second half of 2019 they are pushing ahead with this global expansion.

We have seen them partner with carriers here in Australia with their Reno 5G last year and now they are expanding to various carriers in France, UK, Germany, Spain and Mexico with more to come. At this stage their products and services are available in over 40 different countries and regions.

With COVID-19 slowing production to an almost standstill in recent weeks they are now resuming production and sales in the hope to provide these new markets with their newest phones, especially the Find X2 series. Sales were hit hard in early February but have bounced back to be at normal levels by the end of February offering hope to their global expansion plans. OPPO said that 80% of their factories are back online along with 80% of their supply chain partners also restarting work.

Given their continuing success in the Australian market in recent year it will be interesting to see how they focus their efforts here in Australia. We expect that surely their Find X2 Pro will find itself on at least one of the three 5G carriers given its features and relatively attractive pricing. At this stage details are unknown but with them impressing early reviewers worldwide we hope they can hit the market in a big way here in Australia.

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