The OnePlus 12’s periscope camera is coming to a budget phone

The OnePlus 12 was revealed in China last month, and one of the most notable additions was a periscope camera for the first time on a OnePlus handset. Now, it turns out that an upcoming mid-range phone will get this same zoom camera.

Realme has confirmed on X that one of its upcoming Realme 12 Pro series phones (presumably the Realme 12 Pro Plus) will get a 3x periscope camera.

The company shed more light on this camera, revealing that it’s the same 64MP OV64B sensor as the OnePlus 12. Realme added that this periscope camera also offers 6x in-sensor zoom and “prism tilt OIS” for improved stability. The smartphone brand adds that the phone will pack 120x “super zoom” support, but it stands to reason that image quality will fall off a cliff long before you even get halfway to 120x.

This nevertheless makes for very impressive zoom camera hardware on a mid-range phone. But the upcoming Realme handset will also pack a 50MP IMX890 main camera, which is a flagship-tier camera sensor.

Realme has confirmed that the Realme 12 Pro series will launch in January. There’s no word on availability, but we’re guessing that the devices will be available in the likes of Asia, Europe, and India.

There’s also no word on pricing, either, but the Realme 11 Pro Plus retailed for just under Rs 30,000 (~$361) in India. So we’d expect similar pricing for the new phone. Either way, you should keep an eye on this device if you want a great camera phone with an affordable price tag.