Oppo Find X3 might have a secret weapon to make it the best camera phone around

The Oppo Find X2 Pro was one of the best camera phones around when it launched, and it looks like the company is planning to build on this success with the Oppo Find X3, perhaps enough to make it the best camera phone around.

According to popular Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station, posting on social media platform Weibo, Oppo is testing out a new smartphone camera sensor designed by Sony called the IMX789, which will likely be used in the brand's next flagship.

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Judging by the name, the IMX789 is likely the successor to the IMX689 which was debuted in the Find X2 Pro from Oppo, and later used in the OnePlus 8 Pro too. This sensor was partly why the devices took such good pictures as it was very large, so took in more light.

It's likely the IMX789 is an improvement on the 689, enough perhaps to help Oppo's next phone become one of the best phones for photography there is.

The favorite Sony

It's likely the IMX789 sensor was designed with the Oppo Find X3 in mind, as Sony Exmor (which makes IMX sensors) and Oppo have a history of collaboration. The recent Oppo Reno 5 Pro Plus debuted the IMX766, a 50MP snapper from Sony designed just for the phone.

We could see the IMX766 and IMX789 used in other smartphones from other brands - particularly OnePlus and Vivo, which often share tech between them (due to being owned by the same parent company).

But it sounds like the IMX789 will be designed specifically for the Oppo Find X3, at least according to the leaker, so it could perform better on it than on other phones.

We're expecting to see the Oppo Find X3 in the first few months of 2020, so we'll have to wait until then to see if this leak is accurate and if it brings noticeable photography improvements to the device. Before then, though, we'll likely hear more big leaks on the phone, so stay tuned for those.