Rumors of a big collaboration between two major smartphone brands on a new imaging product have been pretty firmly shut down.
Oppo and Vivo have both explicitly denied online reports that claimed they had finalized a strategic partnership to jointly develop and launch a pocket gimbal camera sharing all their core imaging tech. In statements to Nandu Bay Finance (via ITHome), both companies said no joint R&D agreement has been reached and there are currently no plans to co-launch anything like that.
The denial comes at a time when the handheld gimbal camera category is growing fast. Industry data shows global shipments of handheld smart cameras topped 16 million units in 2025, more than an 80% jump year-on-year. DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3 alone has passed 10 million cumulative sales since it launched in October 2023, with 5 million sold in 2024 and nearly 20 billion yuan in revenue. That kind of potential has attracted new players. Inspiron released its Luna Ultra handheld gimbal camera in June, while DJI brought out the dual-main-camera Osmo Pocket 4P around the same time.
Both Oppo and Vivo have been working on their own projects independently. At the start of the year, Vivo confirmed that it kicked off an internal Vlog camera project at the end of 2025 and put together a team of more than 200 people. Separate reports say Oppo has also started its own gimbal camera project, with an expected launch in the fourth quarter of 2026. Honor is also looking into similar devices through an ODM route.
With everyone moving in parallel and competition heating up, speculation about a formal Oppo-Vivo partnership started floating around. The official responses make it clear that nothing of the sort has actually happened. Instead, the two companies seem to be pushing ahead with their own efforts separately.
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