OnePlus 9 Pro leak reveals new Hasselblad camera system to rival Huawei-Leica partnership

The OnePlus 9 series is expected to launch sometime in March 2021, and as usual, certain details are slowly trickling down the vine ahead of its release. For one, the OnePlus 9 is expected to be powered by the 5G-enabled Snapdragon 888 chipset under the hood, while it’s been widely-reported that we’ll see the same 6.55″ display from the current OnePlus 8T on the latest smartphone from the company.

But now, we might just be seeing real-life images of the range-topping model in the series (unless they’re thinking of an Ultra model, that is): the OnePlus 9 Pro. YouTuber Dave2D says that he was recently approached with some information via Discord, and after some initial skepticism, he realised that these might just be real images of the company’s latest flagship phone (or a prototype).

Have a watch:

The main takeaway from the YouTuber’s video is the Hasselblad-branded rear camera bump, clearly. If the leaked images are true/accurate, this would be the first time that we’re seeing the Swedish medium format camera specialists working alongside OnePlus on one of their devices. In the past, one of the common complaints about OnePlus’ flagship phones has been the rather below-par performance of their cameras—despite some decent sensors and internals.

Now, the company might be looking for a little help from Hasselblad, although this is certainly not a guarantee of success by any stretch. However, if Huawei’s partnership with Leica is anything to go by, perhaps this is exactly what OnePlus needs to maintain its push to challenge the big guys in the smartphone photography scene—namely, Samsung, and of course, Apple.

Unfortunately, the Dave2D’s source for the images could not provide more information on the camera, or the phone (beyond what’s already seen in the photos). From what we can see, the quad-camera rear setup could be made up of a main camera, an ultra-wide shooter, and a zoom lens—along with what might be a ToF sensor, or even laser autofocus. However, there hasn’t been any confirmation on this, not even from Dave2D or the original leakster.

Other details leaked in the video include a 120Hz refresh rate and a QHD+ resolution screen, while you’ll have a curved display as well. The phone in the images—which we’re guessing is a prototype device—also has a rather strange amount of RAM: 11GB. Perhaps this is a prototype thing, or perhaps OnePlus is trying something different, but I would’ve expected 12GB (or 16GB, or even 8GB).

So, what do you guys think? Will Hasselblad’s supposed partnership with OnePlus help them to compete with rivals like Samsung for the mobile photography crown? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. For now, the OnePlus 9 Pro is rumoured to be launching in March 2021—so we do expect to see more information become available as we get closer to the launch.

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