OnePlus 12 could get a much-wanted camera upgrade

The next OnePlus flagship phone could bring a significant camera upgrade. According to Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station, the company is currently testing a periscope camera on the “SM8650” product line. The said model number allegedly belongs to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. That means it is highly likely that the OnePlus phone said to be coming with a periscope camera arrangement is the OnePlus 12.

The regular telephoto cameras on the OnePlus flagships haven’t really had a great run. Even the OnePlus 11 offers just 2x optical zoom and tends to kill details on anything beyond 5x. With a periscope lens, the OnePlus 12 may not only be able to zoom in further optically but also offer a slimmer design. A periscope camera like the one OPPO has on the Find X6Pro could greatly help OnePlus improve its zoom game to compete with the likes of the Galaxy S23 Ultra with its 10x optical zoom and the Pixel 7 Pro with 5x optical zoom.

Further affirming Digital Chat Station’s claims, tipster Max Jambor also chimed in, saying that OnePlus has been testing periscope cameras for a while now. Jambor claims there were even some periscope models of the OnePlus 10 Pro. Obviously, those never made it to the market.

That said, these are still early days for OnePlus 12 rumors. We’ll have to wait for something more concrete to leak before confirming a new camera arrangement for the next OnePlus flagship.