OnePlus 9 officially slated for March 23 launch, will debut new Hasselblad-tuned cameras in a partnership worth US$150 million

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus will launch its eagerly anticipated OnePlus 9 series of smartphone on March 23 the company has announced. The date aligns with a recent tip by leaker Evan Blass who said that pre-orders for the new OnePlus 9 series smartphones will also start on March 23. Although we’ve already known through leaks for several weeks that OnePlus has teamed with camera giant Hasselblad to imbue its expertise in the new OnePlus 9 cameras, it is not surprising to see new relationship front and center in the press release materials.

In a statement, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau had this to say:

With OnePlus’ top-of-the-line hardware and computational photography and Hasselblad’s rich aesthetic knowledge in traditional photography, I am confident that the OnePlus 9 Series will be a major leap forward in our ability to deliver a premium, flagship camera.

In the past couple of years, it has become increasingly apparent that a key differentiator between flagship smartphones is camera performance (along with rear camera housing design). OnePlus says that it has invested US$150 million in what is a three-year partnership (at least initially) on the development of OnePlus smartphone cameras. Kicking things off, the OnePlus 9 series cameras will see improvements made to color tuning and sensor calibration. A new Hasselblad Pro mode also adds support for 12-bit RAW photos, HDR video recording and support for 4K 120 fps and 8K 30 fps video. Future smartphones from OnePlus will see Hasselblad’s involvement deepen.

Buy the OnePlus 8 Pro from Amazon.