OnePlus, Oppo partnership with Hasselblad is rumored to be near an end. What does this mean for your photos?

OnePlus, Oppo partnership with Hasselblad is rumored to be near an end. What does this mean for your photos?،

An era is coming to an end. Things will never be the same, and the world will never be what it was… Or so the rumors say. What do I mean? I mean the possible end of the partnership between camera maker Hasselblad and OnePlus/Oppo, what do you think I meant?

These are still just rumors at this point, but the possibility makes me wonder: what could this all lead to? Will this impact the ability of phones like a OnePlus 13 or Oppo Find X8 Ultra to produce high-quality images? Or… are we really not going to lose anything? Let's talk about it.

Oppo/OnePlus and Hasselblad partnership

In early 2021, OnePlus (a subsidiary of Oppo) started its relationship with Hasselblad, a famous Swedish photography equipment and camera company. On the other hand, Oppo's partnership with the company began in early 2022. This meant that both companies' phones would be equipped with cameras benefiting from Hasselblad's experience and expertise in the device market. photo. With each phone release, the companies were sure to emphasize the partnership. Let's take a quick look at what this partnership has brought.

Take the OnePlus 11 for example. Hasselblad has brought natural color calibration to the phone, along with an improved portrait mode.

Check out some examples from our OnePlus 11 test:

We have beautiful colors with good contrast, but always balanced and keeping it real.

OnePlus itself claims that the collaboration with Hasselblad mainly focuses on color calibration (via XDA Developers). And we can very clearly see the OnePlus 11 and 12 bringing beautiful and natural colors to the table.

OnePlus 12 Main Camera Sample – OnePlus, Oppo partnership with Hasselblad is rumored to be coming to an end. What does this mean for your photos?

OnePlus 12 main camera example

The Oppo Find X7 Ultra is another recent example showcasing the collaboration. The main focus of the partnership here is the Hasselblad portrait mode, which guarantees a cinematic bokeh effect with magnificent depth and detail.

Images showing Oppo Find What does this mean for your photos?

Images showing Oppo Find X7 Ultra portrait mode Hasselblad

But as you can see, I don't really mention anything else besides the colors and portrait mode improvements. Basically, Hasselblad's work with these two companies focuses primarily on color and portrait mode, not the entire photographic experience. Now we have a recent example of two partnered businesses going their separate ways…and we can see the results! Let’s discuss that too.

Huawei and Leica divorce: what happens after

In 2016, Huawei began collaborating with Leica for smartphone photography. Many of you have probably heard about the spectacular camera capabilities of Huawei Pro phones in recent years.

The Huawei P50 Pro

Since the start of the partnership between the two companies, Huawei phones have become famous for their great camera capabilities. The Huawei P50 Pro was the last phone to carry Leica branding for its cameras.

Leica and Huawei have collaborated on the design of lenses for smartphones. But that's not all: sensors, ISP and tuning were all aspects of the smartphone camera design on which the two companies collaborated. Leica helped refine and create the camera experience, as well as providing filters that mimic Leica's famous look (via ZDNet).

However, the partnership ended in May 2022. We have the Huawei P60 Pro which was released in March 2023. Basically, after the partnership ended. Now let's take a look at some of its camera samples from our P60 Pro review:

As you can see from the images above, the Huawei P60 Pro, born after the conclusion of the partnership with Leica, is no worse than its predecessor in terms of camera quality. The images are truly impressive and the camera is hardly challenged by any conditions. We have accurate colors (even better than the slightly bluish tint we got on some samples of the P50 Pro), beautiful night photos, and realistic skin tones.

In short: one thing is clear. The phones resulting from the partnership with Leica have not suffered any loss in terms of photo quality. One could imagine that Huawei is able to learn by collaborating with the famous lens and optics manufacturer.

Even if it is true that the partnership between Huawei and Leica lasted longer – 6 years – compared to that of OnePlus/Hasselblad (if the rumors prove true!), it is difficult to imagine that OnePlus has not learned nothing from this collaboration.

And now for the question…

Will there be pessimism after a possible end of the partnership with Hasselblad?

To put it bluntly: it's more likely than not that we won't see a photo quality disaster. OnePlus knows how to make cameras, and the fact that Hasselblad primarily helps with color calibration and portrait mode (alongside some filters) cannot be ignored.

It's very likely that OnePlus and Oppo also learned a few things about colors from working with Hasselblad. It's also important to note that even before the partnership, OnePlus and Oppo phones weren't terrible in terms of colors either.

Here's a comparison between the now so distant 2020 and the flagship phones available at the time with the OnePlus 8:

Compared to the competition at the time, the OnePlus 8 was good in terms of smartphone photography: sure, in some areas it needed improvement, but in others it was quite reliable. Overall, it's not too bad: and with what the company has learned from Hasselblad, it will probably be even better.

Ultimately, the partnership isn't over yet, and it may or may not end this year. But even if that's the case, you can rest assured that the next OnePlus/Oppo phone will be just as good (if not better) at taking photos than this year's contenders.