OPPO Australia confirm details of their new 10x optical zoom and fingerprint technology: arriving on devices this year

Last night we reported, with sparse details, on OPPO’s new camera and fingerprint technology from their 2019 Future Technology Communication Conference in Beijing. Today OPPO Australia have provided us with more details of the two technologies along with some confirmation of them arriving in consumer devices this year.

Triple Camera Technology – 10x zoom

To enable this new technology OPPO have developed a triple camera system with incorporates an ultrawide angle, an ultra clear master and telephoto lenses. The ultrawide angle lens has an equivalent focal range of 15.9mm giving it the ability of a wide-angled viewfinder. The Ultra Clear Master lens is the main lens with OPPO’s usual camera technology and the telephoto lens has a 159mm focal range giving it support for high magnification zoom and a “high quality long distance shot”.

The three lens then work in tandem to provide a variety of zoom ranges with the zoom being lossless. There is also OIS on the Master lens and the telephoto lens.

The three lenses are focussed within OPPO’s periscope structure, now smaller than ever (although it is unclear how thin it actually is at this stage), designed to make use of the width and thickness of the phone without making the phone overly thick. The entire module has been through a range of tests including the standard industry drop tests. It managed to survive 10,000 drops on the front and back sides and 2,000 on each of the corners — 28,000 in total.

OPPO are excited about the new technology and the possibilities it will bring to smartphone photography with OPPO Australia Managing Director Michael Tran saying:

Achieving a true lossless zoom has been a challenge for any smartphone on the market, and we are really excited to introduce this innovative solution and further evolve smartphone camera technology….We look forward to continuing to explore new technologies and provide Aussies with unique camera innovations throughout 2019.

At this stage it is unknown when this will make it into consumer devices but if you are extremely optimistic and read into Michael Tran’s comments this “unique camera innovation” should arrive sometime in 2019. A less optimistic person may suggest that he is referring to other, less involved technologies — after all the periscope is likely to be quite thick and it seems that manufacturers hate thick phones. Sit on whichever side of the fence you want but we will let you know when we hear more.

Next generation biometrics – full display

OPPO also introduced a new fingerprint technology at the conference. Their new optical in-display fingerprint technology allows an activation area 15 times larger than the current technology to be used. This means that users will be able to use the entire screen to unlock their phone or for any type of authentication.

The new technology also allows for two finger simultaneous entry and authentication thus improving security — apparently 50,000 times more secure than single fingerprint unlock.

This full display fingerprint sensor will be arriving on devices from OPPO this year! Keep an eye out for this as we dig up as much information on it as possible. I for one am definitely looking forward to testing out the new fingerprint technology. In the meantime check out the unofficial non-OPPO video below:

OPPO are currently the fifth highest selling smartphone manufacturer in the world and if they continue to innovate with technologies such as these above it would not surprise me to see them become even more popular. This innovation will hopefully be contagious and will drive the other manufacturers to do the same in an attempt to keep up – no one wants to be left behind.