Dubbed 5x, the company’s new tech manages to cram a Telephoto Lens inside a mobile phone, allowing for 5x optical zooming.  

Smartphones have had other optical zooming options in the past, the most popular solution being the one employed by the iPhone 7 Plus: having two sensors, one of which is permanently zoomed in, and using software to seamlessly combine the two. Oppo’s 5x, however, does things a bit differently, since the second sensor is hidden inside the phone’s chassis at a 90-degree angle.The mechanism was reportedly co-developed together with camera technology vendor Corephotonics, and development took about a year. 

The tech works with a telephoto lens, which is rotated perpendicularly inside the device, and the light from which is then reflected through a rotating prism. The mechanism can rotate by increments of 0.0025 degrees, allowing for precise control of zooming, and also includes picture stabilization.