Oppo accelerates its push into the premium smartphone market by emphasising advanced camera hardware, including a 200-megapixel Hasselblad system, signalling a strategic shift from AI marketing to professional-grade imaging tools amid a recovering camera market.
Oppo is leaning on camera hardware, not marketing around artificial intelligence, as it pushes deeper into the premium smartphone market. Counterpoint Research says the Chinese maker was the fastest-growing premium phone brand in the world in the first half of 2026, with its premium sales up 69% year on year, driven by the Find X9 series. That segment is defined as phones with a wholesale price of US$600 or more, and Apple and Samsung still account for the vast majority of sales.
The company’s answer to the Apple-Samsung duopoly is not another foldable, but add-on imaging hardware. Oppo has built a Hasselblad Professional Teleconverter Kit for the Find X9 Pro, turning the handset’s 70mm telephoto into a much longer reach for travellers and photography enthusiasts. Oppo also unveiled a more advanced Explorer Kit, aimed at users who want a more camera-like grip, controls and longer focal length without carrying a full interchangeable-lens system.
That strategy sits in a broader rebound in dedicated cameras. Market data shows global camera shipments rose in 2025 for the second consecutive year, the first back-to-back increase in nearly two decades. In Australia, retailers have reported renewed interest in compact cameras, suggesting some consumers are again willing to pay for better imaging tools rather than relying solely on phones.
Oppo has spent years building towards this position. It introduced an early periscope telephoto module at Mobile World Congress in 2017 and brought the idea to market in the Reno 10x Zoom in 2019, before Apple and Samsung adopted similar approaches. The company has also experimented with rotating cameras, pop-up modules and under-display camera concepts, while Hasselblad has become central to the Find X range.
The latest Find X9 Pro continues that emphasis. Oppo says the device uses a 200-megapixel Hasselblad telephoto system, with calibration and optical design developed alongside the Swedish camera maker. It also supports 4K 120fps Dolby Vision video and LOG recording with ACES support, features intended to appeal to more serious creators.
The company’s wider scale helps explain its ability to move quickly. Founded in Guangdong in 2004, Oppo grew from consumer electronics into one of the world’s largest handset makers, now selling across more than 60 markets and ranking among the global top four by volume. IDC says it shipped 30.7 million phones in the first quarter of 2026, giving it a 10.5% share of the market, even as overall shipments fell.
That weaker broader market matters. IDC says global handset volumes fell in the first quarter of 2026 amid memory supply pressure, but Oppo’s premium line is still expanding quickly. The company argues that premium is now its growth engine, with further launches due. It also has a foothold in foldables, tablets, earbuds and wearables, but the clearest message from its latest hardware is that Oppo sees imaging as the way to stand out.
In Australia, however, the premium pitch remains incomplete. Retailers and carriers largely position Oppo in the upper-mid-range and value tiers, while the highest-end Find X devices and camera kits are sold through the company’s own online store. The unresolved question is whether Australian buyers will ever get the Ultra model, or whether Oppo’s most ambitious imaging push will remain a niche import.
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