We already know that the OnePlus 9 Pro will get some significant camera upgrades when it launches on March 23, but it appears that it will go beyond a partnership with premium brand Hasselblad.

In various posts on Twitter and Weibo, OnePlus confirmed that the OnePlus 9 Pro will feature a custom Sony IMX789 sensor that cost over $15 million to develop, and that it will bring a number of new skills with it. This is all part of an effort to improve the OnePlus series' photography capabilities, something that is sorely needed to compete with the likes of Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra.

The new custom Sony IMX789 sensor brings many advantages. First, it is large enough to handle a 16:11 aspect ratio, better covering both 4:3 photos and 16:9 video.

It is also set to capture 12-bit RAW images in 6.87 billion colors, 64 times more than most other smartphones. This is 64 times more than any other smartphone. It also supports 8K video and 4K video at 120 fps, as do some of the best Android phones.

The sensor will also feature the new Digital Overlap High Dynamic Range from Sony's high-end cameras. Unlike traditional HDR photography, where frames are captured one after the other, this sensor captures them all simultaneously and stacks them together. This has the effect of reducing the number of artifacts in a shot, since artifacts are usually caused by motion.

But this is only for the main camera; the OnePlus 9 Pro will also feature a freeform lens that provides a wider shot with an ultra-wide-angle camera. This technology is made possible by placing two prisms side by side and bending the light 90 degrees before it hits the image sensor. These images are then stitched together in an almost panoramic fashion to create an image with a 140-degree field of view.

The OnePlus 9 Pro's front-facing selfie camera will feature a new lens stack with up to 1 ms for faster autofocusing. In addition, the minimum focusing distance has been reduced to 6 inches.

We also got to see the back of the OnePlus 9 Pro thanks to a video released by OnePlus yesterday. The phone is shown briefly at the end, but the full view can be seen above.

Still, we'll get to see it in full soon: the phone will be unveiled alongside the standard OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9E at the OnePlus 9 launch event on March 23.

We already know quite a bit about the OnePlus 9 series: the OnePlus 9 Pro will feature a 6.7-inch QHD display, while the OnePlus 9 will have a 6.5-inch FHD display. Both will feature a 120Hz refresh rate, a 48MP main camera with an ultrawide camera lens, a 16MP front camera, 8GB to 12GB of RAM, 128GB to 256GB of storage, and a 4,500mAh battery.

The OnePlus 9 will also feature a third 2MP macro lens, while the 9 Pro will have four lenses, culminating in an 8MP telephoto lens, and another fourth lens that is not yet known.

The OnePlus 9E, on the other hand, is a bit of a mystery. So far, it is said to have a 6.5-inch Full HD display with a 90 Hz refresh rate, 8 GB of RAM, 12 GB of storage, a 5,000 mAh battery, and a 64 megapixel camera. The leaked information does not reveal whether it will be powered by the Snapdragon 865 processor or the less powerful Snapdragon 690 processor.

Thankfully, we don't have to wait too long to find out what's going on: the announcement event will take place on Tuesday, March 23 at 10:00 am EST/PT. Stay tuned for further updates.