Even as a die-hard Android fanboy, I have to give Apple props when the company does well. I’m seething with envy when I see how many MagSafe accessories there are, and I’ve been begging Android manufacturers to get on the Qi2 bandwagon. On that note, the iPhone 16’s touch-sensitive Camera Control button is undeniably cool… and it looks like Oppo agrees, as the company has brought it to the new Find X8 Pro.
The Find All four of these are 50 megapixels each at different zooms and apertures, but even the front camera is an impressive 32 MP.
But most relevant for comparison is that shutter button. Like the most visible change in the latest iPhone, the Find . . Apple’s implementation is pretty neat; if you’re not familiar with it, you can Check out all the things it does on our sister site, Macworld.
Oppo’s version of the button is hidden on the right side of the phone, just like the Camera Control button. So if you hold it in your hands with the rear lenses on the left, your right index finger will rest on the shutter position, just like a full-size camera. Double-tapping it will immediately launch the camera, something that’s already built into the primary power button on most Android phones.
You can see a YouTuber checking out the capacitive button options at 1:30 below. According to the auto-translated captions, it’s surprisingly central to the phone’s body, making it a little less comfortable than you’d hope.
It’s worth pointing out that the idea of a dedicated camera or shutter release for a phone is nothing new. Physical camera controls date back to the early days when they were first integrated into “dumb” phones, and some photo-heavy experimental designs, like Samsung’s 2013 Galaxy Zoom series, leaned heavily on integrating aim shoot-and-shoot camera features in smartphones.
Additional action buttons can be seen on designs like the Galaxy S Active or Lenovo/Motorola’s ThinkPhone, and some “gaming” phone designs use capacitive or even physical buttons on the side for gaming triggers. Many Android phones let you take photos in the camera app by using the volume buttons as a makeshift shutter button, so manufacturers know that many people need some tactility for their photos.
Xiaomi’s Black Shark 4 Pro shows off its physical trigger buttons, but these are for gaming, not photography.
Lewis painter/foundry
The Find that Oppo can throw at it. Yes, “AI” is mentioned quite often. The phone will launch in China on October 30 and will later be rolled out globally, according to Phone Arena. It will be priced at 5300 Yuan (approximately $745 USD) for the base 12GB/256GB version.
The cheaper Find Like Samsung and Google, Oppo reserves the most powerful camera options for its headliner.
Oppo, like many other manufacturers in China, doesn’t seem too concerned about lifting design cues from Apple. Without wanting to get too political, it seems that the Chinese market is quite forgiving of its domestic companies when it comes to these kinds of things. Global competitors may be more cautious about replicating the camera control button. Apple is known for its litigation, and losing that battle could come with a price tag of a billion dollars.
That said, the Camera Control button uses principles that have been around in cameras longer than Apple has been a company, so it can’t copyright or patent the idea of physical camera controls. While it’s unlikely that phone buyers outside of China will get access to something as brutal as the Find X8 Pro’s button, we could certainly see a wider embrace of more robust physical control options.
I think phone users, like drivers, are discovering that there is a point at which an all-touch interface becomes less and less profitable.
