Year after year, major phone brands are defying the manufacturing and costing challenges just to give the mid-class the smartphone cameras they deserve.

This 2026 and beyond, it seems like it’s the new norm for the freshest breed of premium midrangers.

Mainlander Midranger

The HONOR 600 Pro and OPPO Reno15 Pro are two smartphones positioned in the peak of the midranger pyramid.

On paper, they are highly likely the closest in terms of camera hardware.

	HONOR 600 Pro	OPPO Reno15 Pro
Wide	200MP f/1.9 1/1.4” Samsung ISOCELL HP3 sensor	200MP f/1.8 1/1.56” Samsung ISOCELL HP5 sensor
Ultra-Wide	12MP f/2.2 112º FoV	50MP f/2.0 116º FoV
Telephoto	50MP f/2.8 3.5x optical zoom	50MP f/2.8 3.5x optical zoom
Selfie	50MP f/2.0	50MP f/2.0

First and foremost, while these phones rock a similar 200MP cameras by Samsung, the sensor sizes and age are quite different.

The HONOR 600 Pro has a bigger yet older (2022) 1/1.14-inch ISOCELL HP3. Meanwhile, a newer (2025) yet standard-sized ISOCELL HP5 was used in the Reno15 Pro.

The biggest disparity can be seen in their ultra-wide modules. HONOR didn’t focus too much on it by giving a smaller 12MP f/2.2 with a tighter 112-degree FoV (Field of View).

On the other hand, the OPPO equipped a bigger 50MP module with a brighter f/2.0 aperture, and an even wider 116-degree FoV.

Lastly, both the telephoto and selfie shooters are at 50MP. Both telephoto cameras are capable of optically zooming in to 3.5x.

Fair and Square

Both of these midrangers have their own set of special sauces. But, for the sake of fairness, I’ve stuck with each of their default camera color profiles: Natural for the HONOR 600 Pro while Original in the OPPO Reno15 Pro.

Disclaimer: If you are new here, sample photos were all taken using the default AI Camera Mode. These images were resized and labeled for faster loading and better online preview. No color correction, zoomed-in cropping, nor any other type of photo manipulation were applied.

3.5x Telephoto

Starting with the common denominator of both phones: their 3.5x 50MP f/2.8 telephoto shooters

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T8

T9

T10

T11

T12

Beyond Telephoto Zoom

We have to break the barriers just to test each phones’ telephoto unit limit.

ZB1

ZB2

ZB3

ZB4

ZB5

ZB6

1x Wide (Main)

Again, both phones rock a 200MP camera but of different aperture and sensor sizes. Can you differentiate them from another though?

W1

W2

W3

W4

W5

W6

W7

W8

W9

W10

Ultra-Wide Angle (UWA)

Each FoV value can be your primary hint to determine which is which. But, is it enough for you to tell who’s the better performer?

U1

U2

U3

U4

U5

Food

A separate section for prospective users who will use one of these for food shots.

F1

F2

F3

F4

F5

Furry Friends

Whether it’s our pets or wild animals, they all have one thing in common: they are all very hard to capture especially when in motion.

FF1

FF2

FF3

FF4

FF5

FF6

FF7

FF8

Indoors

Subjects taken in any controlled lighting is another tricky test for both of these smartphones.

IN1

IN2

IN3

IN4

IN5

IN6

IN7

IN8

IN9

IN10

IN11

IN12

The Night is Right

The ultimate camera test all boils down to shots taken at night (or low-light).

Actual camera processing is one. Added AI algorithms and the actual output for another.

N1A  |  1x Wide

N1B  |  3.5x Optical Zoom

N2  |  Ultra-Wide

N3A  |  3.5x Optical Zoom

N3B  |  5x Lossless Zoom

N4  |  5x Zoom

N5  |  2x In-Sensor Zoom

N6  |  3.5x Optical Zoom

N7  |  1x Wide

N8A  |  UWA

N8B  |  1x Wide

N9  |  3.5x Optical Zoom

N10  |  5x Lossless Zoom

BONUS: Super Moon

That same telephoto module gives both the HONOR and OPPO midrangers a zoom reach as far as 120x.

M1  |  40x Digital Zoom

M2  |  120x Max Zoom

Results

Were you able to write down and tally your picks? Well, here are the results:

A — OPPO Reno15 Pro 5G 

B — HONOR 600 Pro

Conclusion

For the most part, samples taken on the HONOR 600 Pro are already social media-ready. They require little to no effort prior sharing it as your Facebook post or Instagram story.

And by that, the saturation and contrast game is strong as opposed to its rival — a look preferred by most users. These are clearly seen in Sets T1 / T5 / ZB5 / W1 / W2 / N1A.

Meanwhile, the OPPO Reno15 Pro leans more into the “natural” side.

Despite the absence of that premium Hasselblad partnership, it still gave desirable results for those who want the less “AI-processed” look (softer, reduced saturation, minimized contrast) which are evident in Photos T2 / T4 / T8 / T12 / ZB1 / ZB3 / W7 / W8 / FF7 / FF8.

Definitely, the results are not totally consistent. The OPPO Reno15 Pro mostly had a brighter and warmer output (T1 / T5 ~T7 / ZB6 / W1 / W4 / W5 / W8 / W10 / U1 / U2 / F1 / F2 / F4 / FF1 / FF2 / IN3 / IN8 / IN12 / N3A / N5).

Other times, the latter is brighter yet cooler (T12 / ZB1 / ZB2 / ZB3 / ZB4 / FF3 / FF8 / IN1 / IN2 / IN7 / IN9 / IN10 / IN11). Even the super moon shots on the HONOR 600 Pro were brighter, too.

These differences and inconsistencies might make or break your final decision which smartphone best suits your overall camera taste.

Pro-grade for less

Despite the continuous innovation and evolution of flagship smartphones when it comes to mobile imaging, phone manufacturers still try to balance everything out with midrange smartphones in the horizon.

The HONOR 600 Pro and OPPO Reno15 Pro are two among the handful midranger wonders meant for any pro-grade user who lacks the purchasing power to buy the bestest in the lineup — but, still want a very capable device for their smartphone-tography needs.

Clearly, the camera hardware isn’t the most “powerful” out there. Still, they are clear with the positioning of these phones. They are your pro-grade cameras for less.

As similar as their camera hardware, the HONOR 600 Pro and OPPO Reno15 Pro also have similar SRPs — at least the 12+512GB configuration.

• HONOR 600 Pro = PhP 48,999 / MYR 3299 / SG$ 1049
• OPPO Reno15 Pro = PhP 48,999 / MYR 3299 / SG$ 1049 (as Reno15 Pro Max)

HONOR your Reno?

Over the years of making dedicated camera shootout write-ups, I always thought that photos that look closer to our naked eyes is something that I should call “the better smartphone camera” — especially because of the accuracy of their output.

Now, with the advent of smartphone cameras with countless camera partnerships and all the imaginable profiles / presets / styles / recipes (or whatever you want to call ’em) to ever exist, it got harder to decide which smartphone to recommend for most users.

Such sentiment made me realize that there is no single clear winner at all.

So what’s the point of making another extensive camera comparison like this? Well, it’s still for you to show how each phone is capable (or incapable) both in camera hardware and software. It’s also for you to choose the camera look that’s closer to your liking.

Clearly, both the HONOR 600 Pro and OPPO Reno15 Pro are very capable smartphone cameras. But, at the end of the day, it’s your power as a buyer which pro-grade midranger wins your heart.

Now, if you will consider other aspects such as their core hardware, OS skin, and even after-sales service, that’s clearly for another story.

The first leg of Spartan Race’s Philippine National Series doesn’t wait for anyone.

We joined an OCR team, BGY BYG aka Bring Your Game, at Bridgetowne Obstacle Park as they put themselves through an obstacle course race simulation. I brought the Canon EOS R6 Mark III to document every athlete giving their best.

Shooting under direct midday sun is its own challenge. The 32.5MP sensor handled the harshness of open daylight without blowing out detail. The 40fps electronic shutter and Pre-continuous shooting meant we were already in the frame before the moment fully happened.

Athletes were moving fast and in every direction, but the 8.5-stop IBIS kept every shot steady as we moved alongside them.

The Dual Pixel CMOS AF II stayed locked mid-sprint, mid-climb, and everywhere in between.

This is what race prep looks like up close.

SEE ALSO: What HYROX Hong Kong looks like up close

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Words and photos by MJ Jucutan.

To cover COMPUTEX 2026, I found myself staying in the Grand Hilai Taipei, a 5-star hotel right beside the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center (TaiNEX), the historical home of the annual conference. I can’t help but think of The Grand Budapest Hotel, a Wes Anderson flick about a similarly decadent hotel. But it’s not the plush hotel rooms, the hospitable staff, or the Romanesque public sauna that has me thinking of the iconic 2014 film. Rather, it’s the man of the hour himself, NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang, the king of today’s AI.

In The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ralph Fiennes plays Monsieur Gustave, the eponymous hotel’s flamboyant concierge. Always the life of the party, Gustave blends seamlessly into the hotel’s luxurious pink decor as he cavorts willy-nilly with the elder clientele. While the film flings Gustave around a thrilling chase for a deceased friend’s inheritance, the film’s subtext is one of politics, mistrust, and war. Around the hotel, the world haplessly descends into the geopolitical turmoil that brought about the Second World War. And yet, Gustave remains indifferent, content as he is to be atop his lofty pulpit while luxuriating in L’Air de Panache.

Jensen Huang, clad in his trademark leather jacket, is our story’s Monsieur Gustave. Much like Gustave, Huang revels in the fanfare around him. In COMPUTEX, he’s a hero adored by the masses. Wherever he goes, fans bend over backwards to take a selfie. His merchandise (and yes, it exists), touting AI-generated versions of him, is constantly sold out. It’s a stark contrast to the world and all its doom-and-gloom for a future bloated with AI.

The silence behind the applause

Before the official start of COMPUTEX, Huang conducted his own keynote speech for NVIDIA. If you’ve been to one of his keynotes in the past, you’ll hardly recognize what it’s become. There’s no more talks of realistic graphics or faster gaming performance. It’s all about AI.

Most of his time was dedicated to Vera Rubin, a multi-rack AI supercomputer destined to power the future’s data centers. Amid the drone of technical jargon (almost bordering on technobabble), I was quietly asking myself what I was doing here. Meanwhile, beside me, an enthusiastic woman clapped with as much fervor as if Huang was the second coming of Christ himself. Even if Huang could hear her individual applause (and he most certainly didn’t), he couldn’t have seen her Googling frantically what a multi-rack AI supercomputer was.

After what felt like forever on the Vera Rubin, Huang finally talked about a consumer-ready product: the new RTX Spark laptops. Admittedly, my interest was piqued. After all, it’s supposed to be the next evolution of PCs. Cue: more applause.

Although, the subtext here is as loud as the clamor. Though it’s certainly impressive that a single RTX Spark notebook can deliver 1 petaflop of AI performance and 192GB of unified memory, this next big thing is not for you and me. No one wanted to talk about the price of these things; not a single OEM, not even Huang himself.

All the hype is on productivity and profitability. It will make more work and more money… but not for you. If anything, you’ll probably end up worse.

The price of progress

Building a PC these days can bankrupt you just as easily as visiting an American hospital. A decent stick of RAM is no longer as accessible as it was a few years ago. And it’s all thanks to AI.

Touting them as humanity’s next evolution, the world’s biggest tech companies want you, a regular consumer, to believe that the technology is coming to your home. But first, they need acres of real estate for data centers. Several states in America have already relegated land to put up these centers, much to the chagrin of their residents. Despite assurances that newer ones can more effectively balance the load on the grid, these same data centers need a lot of space, power, and water. All three of which are coming from the communities surrounding them. At the time of this writing, some state governments are pushing back against the incoming infrastructure, perhaps realizing the mistake of unimpeded data center developments. The outside world is slowly turning on AI, but it’s not a global crackdown.

And that’s before the effect of these data centers on regular consumer technology. Besides all that land, they need a horde of silicon. That’s why NVIDIA has stopped positioning itself as a GPU company, and that’s why all the chips just disappeared. All those data centers are buying up the world’s stock of chips. It’s all a matter of supply and demand at that point; scarcity drives prices up, and we’re left to pick up the pieces. The GPU that was supposed to go to your new PC is now inside a data center somewhere in the States.

Even if you don’t live near a data center, you’re still not safe. Companies, especially in the Western world, believe that AI can replace human workers, leading to mass layoffs. To be clear, while AI can help with productivity when used as a tool, a full replacement isn’t the most feasible option yet. In fact, according to Fortune, AI is just a convenient scapegoat when companies simply want to cut labor expenses by any means necessary.

And yet, the party goes on. Huang is adamant that you are on the ground floor of a revolution that will change the world. But, sorry, bucko; that elevator is going up without you.

The mask falls

As tempting as it is to pick on a single target, the NVIDIA CEO wasn’t the only Monsieur Gustave gallivanting around COMPUTEX. Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon had his own keynote speech to herald the annual conference. But, opposed to decadence of Huang’s optimism, Amon lets his mask fall just a tiny bit.

To his credit, Amon didn’t extol Qualcomm’s developments exclusively. Rather, he spoke of the overall effects of AI on our world. It’s, of course, the usual optimistic accoutrements of harder, better, faster, stronger for society. Eventually, his excitement gets the best of him and lets slip some shadier effects.

“6G will turn us all into walking cameras,” he said, talking about how AI will affect connectivity.

Now, to be fair, radio frequency sensing isn’t new technology. It’s already been possible to detect objects using only radio signals. 6G, bolstered by AI, will expand this to cover a much wider area for more possible uses.

Amon himself admits that it was a controversial statement. But perhaps, he doesn’t know (or care) about any potential invasions of privacy. He remains ever-so-confident that the use of 6G for surveillance will ultimately help with public safety and infrastructure.

All I can think of is The Dark Knight‘s Lucius Fox doing the moral thing and shutting off Batman’s mass surveillance system after finding the Joker.

It’s a tiny slip, but it speak volumes. Your privacy is a sacrifice that they’re willing to take.

As if that’s not enough, Amon signs off on his diatribe with a succinct “resistance is futile,” talking to those who still oppose AI.

An odd way to start off a celebration of AI, isn’t it? Traditionally, that phrase is one oft used by villainous characters, but that’s just par for the course in today’s AI-infested world. Peter Thiel, one of the moguls of AI, infamously named his company Palantir, the same malevolent surveillance tool used by Sauron in The Lord of the Rings. For some, masks don’t really exist.

The other concierge

Speaking as someone who keeps his finger on the pulse of AI more on the Western side of the world, it’s strange to see a different side of the coin. Huang and Amon are icons. You can’t last two seconds without seeing a single mention of AI somewhere on the show floor. There’s a palpable electricity when talking about the potential of AI.

And to be fair, when I talked to a few developers and engineers, I can feel the optimism. One talked about a voice assistant that would suggest better gift ideas for her spouse based on their history. Another one passionately talked about how much gaming has been better with DLSS 4.5. They truly believe that AI can work to their (and our) benefit, and I believe them. Underneath the smarminess of tech billionaires are ordinary people who found ways to better society. That’s where the conversation about AI should start.

But that’s not what the people want. The people want the parties, the glitz and the glamor. And all these billionaires desperately want to be the next Steve Jobs, the next Great Gatsby. And everyone else wants someone to hate.

In Taiwan, it’s not easy to hate a Monsieur Gustave that wants to make you feel welcome. It’s much easier to come for a monster taking your land, your jobs, and your money.

In Taiwan, Monsieur Gustave can have his parties, his adoring friends, and his fancy leather jacket. But in the rest of the world, he finds in himself the caretaker of an entirely different hotel, The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. Beneath Monsieur Gustave is Jack Torrance, and he’s always been the caretaker.

“Here’s Jensen!”