OnePlus 5 only has 1.6x optical zoom, not the claimed 2x
Earlier today, we wrote about OnePlus cheating benchmarks with the OnePlus 5. It looks like that’s not the only thing OnePlus hasn’t been honest about. According to a user on Reddit, the OnePlus 5’s 2x Optical Zoom is not quite what they said.
The Reddit user analyzed EXIF data and found the optical zoom was only 1.33x. The EXIF data also showed that by default, the digital zoom is only 1.5x. It’s important to note that optical zoom and digital zoom are two different things. The extra camera is responsible for the optical zoom. OnePlus claimed the second camera has “2x lossless zoom,” but that’s not the case.
Carl Pei clarified that the optical zoom is only 1.6x. The remaining 0.4x is from the SmartCapture software. OnePlus’ claim of 2x optical zoom is not true in both situations. It’s using a combination of optical and digital to reach 2x. The disappointing part is that the 0.4x digital zoom is making photos look worse. If we could use only the optical zoom, the zoomed in photos would be more clear.
This is another example of OnePlus making questionable decisions. The only reason to say “2x optical zoom” is to compete with the iPhone 7 Plus and ZenFone 3 Zoom. Carl Pei tried to clear up the confusion, but the confusion was created by his own company not being honest.