OPPO is still a little while off announcing its next flagship phone - presumably the Find X4 Pro - but today it's revealed one detail: it should be an absolute beast when it comes to photography. This is thanks to OPPO's newly revealed MariSilicon X, a custom-made neural processing unit solely dedicated to camera applications.
In addition to physical camera lenses, a phone's photography prowess is linked closely to its hardware. The vast majority of phones now rely on computational imaging, where artificial intelligence is used to maximise the performance you can get out of a camera. Many phones now have dedicated neural processing units (NPUs) which are processors used exclusively for artificial intelligence tasks, but OPPO's MaliSilicon X is the first NPU made exclusively for imaging.
One of the biggest advantages MaliSilicon X will deliver is vastly improved lowlight performance. OPPO says its next flagship phone will have a 4K AI HDR night video night mode, which should ostensibly make each frame look like a photo. In addition, live preview should show provide a much more accurate representation of the actual result.
In addition, OPPO says MariSilicon X will allow for even better HDR photography, capturing images with 20bit 120db dynamic range, which is four greater than the Find X3 Pro. This gives images a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio between the lightest and brightest areas.
OPPO says the MariSilicon X will debut in a phone in the first quarter next year. Our best bet is this will end up being the Find X4 Pro, which we'd expect OPPO to reveal as part of Mobile World Congress in late February or during a similar timeframe.
Alex Choros
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