Oppo and Huawei reportedly explore square-format front sensor after iPhone 17 push

Apple's recent handset cycle made a quiet but consequential change to front-facing imaging: a square-format sensor paired with software that reorients and crops the frame to keep subjects centered. That design choice has caught the attention of supply-chain observers and phone makers in China, with tips indicating Oppo intends to follow suit on its upcoming flagship series. Huawei is also reported to be experimenting with the same sensor geometry, though its rollout may target photography-oriented midrange devices rather than premium flagships. The technical appeal is straightforward: a squarer sensor provides more usable image area for automatic panning and dynamic cropping without rotating the physical device, enabling portrait and landscape framing flexibility from a single mount. For OEMs, adopting the shape is not just a hardware tweak; it requires integration between sensor readout, image signal processing and the phone’s camera software to replicate smooth auto-centering and zooming. If Oppo implements this at the flagship level, it could become a competitive differentiator in a crowded premium market where camera features now drive upgrade decisions. Huawei placing the capability in mid-tier phones would widen access and test consumer appetite for computational framing outside flagship pricing. The move also underscores how a single hardware format can force revisions across app ecosystems — third-party apps that already leverage advanced front-camera behavior will matter more as the sensor type spreads. Component suppliers will see increased demand for square-format modules and the supporting ISP logic, shifting some design focus away from traditional sensor resolutions to how pixel readout maps to dynamic crops. For consumers the practical gain is more consistent framing in video calls and selfies, but manufacturers must still resolve power, thermal and software calibration trade-offs if they want a truly polished experience. Ultimately, the reported plans from Oppo and Huawei indicate that Apple’s front-camera experiment could set a broader industry trend rather than remain an isolated novelty.