The OnePlus 11 Pro is tipped to come with a ground-breaking, magnetically-rotating camera

OnePlus has reportedly invented the "magnetic camera module", which, as the name suggests, consists of a mobile image sensor placed in a bracket that can move freely through 180° thanks to a system based on  opposing magnets. The component as a whole seems intended to confer a smooth range of motion on the resulting camera.

The intriguing description (accompanied by equally interesting schematics) has inspired a new and very preliminary set of renders for a future OnePlus flagship smartphone. This putative 10 Pro successor is imagined to have a camera hump consisting of just 1 massive lens, in a considerable departure from the premium devices of the last few years.

This effect may be achieved by a "magnetic rotating" camera with, as LetsGoDigital argues, the ability to perform or improve upon multiple top-end mobile photography modes at once. To start off with, the new camera could be introduced as OnePlus' answer to stabilization enhancements such as Apple's Sensor Shift technology.

Besides this, the magnetic camera is also now backed to offer improved panoramic shots, not to mention an evolution of modes such as Tilt Shift. In terms of video, it could also (obviously) control jitter, not to mention the option of panning, tilting or maybe even zooming without the need to either move a phone or keep it steady.

All in all, this new patent might imply the potential for an 11 Pro (Hasselblad branding and all) with a new, all-in-one camera solution, not to mention the brand's first round camera hump since 2019. Then again, as the IP has apparently only been approved by the Chinese and World Intellectual Property Offices in mid-2021, the world might have to wait for the 12 Pro or its successor instead.