iPhone 17’s front camera tech might soon appear on an Android phone, but better

Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup brought one of the more useful selfie camera upgrades in recent memory, and Android may be preparing an even better answer of its own. A known Weibo tipster has just revealed that at least one Android brand is working on a Center Stage-style selfie camera setup.

What’s special about Apple’s selfie trick?

The iPhone 17 series uses an 18MP Center Stage front camera with a square sensor. That design lets the phone capture selfies and group shots in either portrait or landscape orientation without physically rotating the device. It also lets the camera shift framing dynamically to keep moving subjects in view.

This is quite a clever feature in practice, fixing one of the annoyances with selfies. From video calls to group selfies, Apple’s square sensor design gives the software a lot more room to crop intelligently. While Android flagships don’t have anything similar to this, a future model from Oppo might be changing that soon.

How Oppo could improve on this technology

The tipster didn’t specifically mention any one brand as the one pushing the new selfie technology. Yet, the leak does hint at OnePlus’ parent company, Oppo, working on a high megapixel alternative.

Digital Chat Station’s leak claims the test device uses a 100MP front camera sensor, which would be a huge jump over Apple’s 18MP unit.

Megapixel count doesn’t necessarily mean a better image output. Sensor size, optics, processing, autofocus, and low-light performance are just as important in the overall experience. But it does give the sensor more flexibility for in-sensor crop.

As of right now, it is still uncertain whether this camera will arrive with Oppo’s next wave of phones.

The Notebookcheck report states that the company’s upcoming lineup is expected to include the Find X10 and Find X10 Pro, but the feature could also slip to a later model, such as the Find X11 series or a future Find X10 Ultra.

For now, this remains a leak, so take this report with a pinch of salt.