The OnePlus 10 Pro receives a new ultrawide camera and an improved RAW mode

OnePlus has released a few more facts about the OnePlus 10 Pro, this time focusing on the camera specifications. If you were hoping for a lot of hardware upgrades from this second-gen relationship with Hasselblad, you’ll have to wait a while longer — these updates are mostly software-based, with the exception of a new ultrawide.

The OnePlus 10 will include a triple rear camera, likely the same 48-megapixel main, 50-megapixel ultrawide, and 8-megapixel telephoto configuration as last year, according to some basic camera specs we learned earlier this week. There’s a 32-megapixel front-facing camera, which is a substantial improvement over the 16-megapixel selfie camera in the iPhone 9 and 9 Pro.

The addition of a shooting mode called RAW Plus, which, like Apple’s ProRAW format, combines the benefits of computational photography and RAW image capture, is a noteworthy improvement. Traditional RAW mode was available on the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro, so this is a welcome enhancement for people who wish to experiment with data-rich RAW files while still benefiting from the superior picture processing that smartphone cameras are capable of.

In the new Hasselblad Pro Mode, all three rear cameras can control exposure settings and take 12-bit RAW data. People like the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro’s easy Pro Mode, so they excited to try out the next version. Movie Mode, a new manual video recording mode, is also available. It gives you more flexibility over ISO and shutter speed, as well as access to the LOG shooting format, which is superior for colour grading after the fact.

Hasselblad provided colour tuning for the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro cameras, and OnePlus continues to leverage that component of the cooperation. It blends its own (also Oppo’s) “Billion Color Solution” with Hasselblad’s colour science to give each of the phone’s three back cameras 10-bit colour. If you’re viewing images on a screen capable of displaying all of those colours, this should result in smoother colour gradations.

On the hardware front, there’s a new ultrawide camera sensor with a 150-degree field of view, which is roughly equivalent to 5mm in 35mm terms. This lens can be used in conjunction with a new fisheye mode if you truly want to go for a dramatic photo. The ultrawide features a 110-degree mode, which is closer to the 14mm equivalent offered by the 9 and 9 Pro, and uses AI distortion correction for a somewhat narrower view.

There’s one more hardware change to mention: the monochrome camera appears to have been dropped by OnePlus. This was a low-resolution chip introduced in prior models to help with black-and-white photography. At least, such was the claim. People couldn’t uncover any evidence of it making a difference in monochromatic photographs, and my colleague Jon Porter has decried its presence for years, calling it “baffling” and “pointless.” The 10 Pro renders they have seen so far show three useful-looking cameras, a flash, and no sign of a small monochrome sensor. If that’s the case, good-bye, monochrome camera; we had no idea what you were up to.

Aside from camera upgrades, what someone have learnt so far about the OnePlus 10 Pro isn’t that surprising. It’ll have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, a 120Hz screen, and 50W wireless charging, just like previous OnePlus flagships, and it’ll tick all the boxes for a “2022 Android flagship.” It will be available in China on January 11th, with other territories following later this year.