OPPO has been confirmed that it is working on a special Hasselblad camera kit for the forthcoming Find X9 range, so this looks to be the real deal when it comes to giving its flagship phones proper enthusiast-grade shooting tools.
The news arrives courtesy of OPPO product manager Zhou Yibao on Weibo (h/t iAndroid), and he specifically referred to the Find X9 series by name, suggesting that both the Pro and standard variant of the new range will bring with them new “imaging accessories”.
All of that — brand logos, tuning color quality aside — this kit points towards real hardware you can stick onto your phone to span a gulf between pocket convenience and pro control that even traditional mobile cameras at their best sometimes can’t fully cross.
What’s probably in the Hasselblad kit
Leaked details discussed alongside OPPO’s confirmation mention a magnetic photography grip and a Hasselblad-branded external telephoto converter also on the way.
A magnetic mount is also going to be quicker and more reliable than a friction-fit-and-clamp-on combination of accessories, and that dedicated grip usually means there’s a physical shutter button, another dial or two, better balance when shooting.
The marquee item is the telephoto converter. In traditional photography, converters often are available in 1.4x or 2.0x versions, sacrificing some light and sharpness for the ability to reach further. If the optics and software are tuned together in collaboration between OPPO and Hasselblad, you can bet lens profiles, AF calibration, and color science will all be baked right into the camera app to preserve detail and eliminate aberrations.
Zhou also suggested that the final design will be quite different from an early render that has been circulating on Chinese social media, proving once again that prototypes and marketing images don’t always translate to shipping hardware.
Why it matters on a modern flagship
Smartphones face hard physical limits. Yeah, even with larger sensors and periscope lenses there is only so much glass that you can cram in to a 8–9mm chassis. Extend a focal length from the outside and it doesn’t require re-engineering across the whole camera stack (a grip also provides steadier long shooting, especially at low light/telephoto lengths were micro-shake ruins shots).
The industry has played around with such an idea in the past. Xiaomi has shown off a detachable lens concept for the 12S Ultra and made a photography kit available with the 13 Ultra; Sony’s Xperia Pro-I fits snugly with shooting grips like its GP-VPT series; and years in the past Motorola’s Hasselblad True Zoom Mod brought true optical zoom to Moto Z handsets. OPPO’s contribution revives that spirit with a new-age, computationally-tuned wrinkle and the inclusion of a heavyweight camera brand.
How OPPO and Hasselblad can make it work
Expect tight hardware-software coupling. Optics can align accurately (and repeatably) with a magnetic mount; shutter input and control dials could be Bluetooth or a direct connector. On the software side, built-in lens profiles can correct vignetting and distortion in-camera, while Hasselblad’s color tuning is able to be used on both native high-quality JPEG/HEIF images as well as RAW throughout the workflow system.
Normally a stop (1.4x) or two stops (2.0x) of light are lost through teleconverters. Computational photography can win back some exposure with multi-frame fusion and noise reduction, but it’s long-focal-length micro-contrast and texture where the rubber will meet the road. If Hasselblad’s optical formula and coatings are tuned specifically for the Find X9 sensors, the kit could provide cleaner edges and higher MTF than just a generic clip-on.
Context of the partnership and what it meants
OPPO recently signed a 10-year partnership extension with Hasselblad, claiming the two are working together to develop a next-gen mobile imaging nitsuen8865 system. That escalating partnership is in contrast with the suggestion that OnePlus recently terminated its parallel Hasselblad relationship, which would make OPPO the main flag bearer for this joint smartphone roadmap.
If it’s priced and packaged right, an official camera kit could make these lenses a legitimate next-tier accessory for Android flagships—one that goes beyond simply cases and chargers to include optical shooting aids.
It might also nudge app developers to surface more of those advanced pro controls through Camera2 APIs so that grips, adapters and converters function smoothly across both native and third-party applications.
Key questions before launch
There are three aspects that will make or break the experience: compatibility with both Find X9 models, the optical quality and light loss of the telephoto converter and first-party software integration that treats the kit as more than just a bolt-on.
Pricing and availability are not yet announced, and OPPO has left out final specs.
Yet even with a green light from OPPO’s product leads and Hasselblad along for the optics, the Find X9 series is potentially one of the year’s most audacious mobile camera plays—one that could skew what we expect from a phone when you pop on the right accessories.
