OPPO has announced a Hasselblad-branded external lens for the Find X9 series, and it isn’t an appeal to sentimentality. Per NotebookCheck, which spotted a company live-streamed event on Weibo and later reported it, OPPO said that the add-on is a 3.28x telephoto extender that clips onto the Find X9 Pro’s 200-megapixel 70mm periscope module. Practically speaking, that turns the phone’s native 3x zoom into something like a 9.6x at around 230mm equivalent, with room to go longer still via the high-resolution sensor if needed.
What the 3.28x Extender Does to the Camera
Consider this lens a traditional teleconverter for your smartphone. It multiplies focal length by a factor of 3.28 while also tripling the effective f-number. We understand that the periscope is f/2.1, so the extender brings us close to an operating aperture of f/6.9, or over three stops in speed loss. You should expect to get great reach in sunlight, while you will have more of a challenge at dusk or inside when the shutter speed becomes slower and the ISO goes higher.
The positive is reach without a bunch of clumsy digital zoom. At around 230mm subjects such as nature and wildlife, stage shows, and buildings appear in close combat range. Since the sensor is 200MP, OPPO can do some clever cropping as well, meaning you should be able to see near-lossless results up to a 19x zoom in perfect light which adds in the optical multiplier and pixel-binning/multi-frame super-resolution algorithms. There will be a little extra crop from electronic stabilization, but good optical stabilization in the periscope ought to help rein in handshake.
Image Quality And What You Can Expect In The Field
Recent precedent indicates that the formula is a winning one. The reviewers who had the opportunity to use vivo’s X200 Ultra telephoto add-on, a 2.35x optic that supplied a ~200mm equivalent, said they enjoyed remarkably clean daytime shots, and a pleasant natural compression for portraits. With OPPO’s longer 3.28x unit, expect even tighter framing and more exaggerated subject isolation—obtained by focal length rather than just computational blur.
There’s always a compromise with an extender. More glass might also bring with it more edge softening, lower micro-contrast and more susceptibility to flare. Autofocus speed could slow as the system compensates for less light, and tracking fast-moving subjects will become more difficult. Look for best results in calm, well-lit situations; sports at night or low-contrast subjects will challenge both optics and algorithms.
You should focus a lot on color and tonality. Hasselblad and OPPO’s long-time partnership tends to mean tuned color profiles and signature processing, in the same vein as the Hasselblad Natural Color Solution found in other collaborations. If OPPO threads this needle properly, the 230mm photos should maintain consistent color science with your main camera, avoiding the jarring look that often comes from mixing optical add-ons with computational pipelines.
Handling and ergonomics of the clip-on telephoto lens
Though let’s not fool ourselves, this isn’t pocket photography proper. The zoom extender puts too much weight on the front of the phone and blocks out the other cameras. You’ll have to remove it to use the main or ultrawide lens, which could lose you that shot you can’t bear to miss. Alignment is also an issue; a slightly mis-seated mount can shift focus or cause vignetting.
If you are going to be using the add-on a lot, however, a small grip, such as Joby’s Action Grip, or a compact tripod or wrist strap will prevent ‘wasted’ frames. Rumored features like a 7,500 mAh battery and 80W wired/50W wireless charging would come in useful here – long telephoto sessions can stress stabilization and image processing, which can stress both power and thermals. The rumored 6.78-inch 1.5K OLED display can also be expected to provide better support when it comes to manual focus confirmation and tracking the subject in bright outdoor conditions.
Software and controls to look for with the extender
Software could be a closer issue. On certain rival systems, there have been instances of external telephoto modes that don’t support RAW capture, full manual exposure controls or reliable portrait aspects. And power users will demand 10-bit DNG at 230mm with manual shutter speeds to minimize motion blur, focus peaking, a trustworthy histogram and the option of tapping into multi-frame night modes optimized for the extender’s now slower effective aperture.
These parameters will need to be carefully balanced in OPPO’s computational stack—how does it balance sharpening, noise reduction, and color consistency across a given zoom range? Even with a 200MP periscope, there’s space for intelligent detail fusion and deconvolutions adapted to the extender’s optical design. To the same extent, subject tracking has to be strong enough to handle the reduced FOV and exaggerated impact of hand movement at ~9.6x.
Bottom line on OPPO’s Hasselblad telephoto add-on
Look for the Hasselblad telephoto add-on for the OPPO Find X9 Pro to give you genuinely useful reach, and sharp daylight shots out to around 230mm with potential for results further still due to that 200MP sensor. In exchange, you’re giving up bulk, slower effective aperture and less snap-and-throw-it-in-your-bag handling. For travel, wildlife and portrait obsessives looking for DSLR-like framing from your phone, it’s an enticing niche tool — one that has the potential to get mobile photography outside of its usual “zoom and hope” compromise whenever the light is fair.