Ahead of its annual Inno Day event, Chinese manufacturer Oppo offered a 15-second glimpse into the future of smartphone cameras.

The video shows an "in-house developed retractable camera" that pops out of the phone's body and retracts inward, much like the lens of a traditional point-and-shoot camera. Although there is a modestly raised camera area on the back of the phone, we speculate that the retractable lens could eventually make the dreaded bump a thing of the past.

More moving parts sounds like a bit of a nightmare in terms of durability, but the clip suggests that Oppo has two ideas in place to mitigate it. First, the phone in the clip is covered in water droplets, implying that it is designed to be waterproof. Second, if the phone is dropped, the camera is shown automatically retracting before impact. Such safety features have been seen before on phones with pop-up selfie cameras, such as the OnePlus 7 Pro.

The phone in the clip is a typical Oppo phone, but according to the text on the camera module, it has a 1/1.56" sensor with an aperture of f/2.4 and a 50mm lens. This does not appear to be a zoom lens, but the movable sensor could theoretically enhance long-distance shooting as well.

As for when this feature will be available on commercial smartphones and can actually be tested, we should probably not hold our breath. At last year's Inno Day, Oppo showed off a concept roll-up smartphone, but the device has yet to see the light of day.

Still, it will be interesting to hear more about this innovation and what Oppo thinks are its main advantages at the upcoming event on December 14 and 15. Other products teased include the company's first neural processing unit and smart glasses.

In addition, in the near future Oppo has already confirmed that its next flagship will be one of the first phones to benefit from Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. The company did not say what form that handset will take, but it is likely to be the Oppo Find X4 Pro, following the Oppo Find X3 Pro in March. According to a few leaks and rumors, the device may feature a QHD display, 12GB RAM, and 80W charging.