Sharp has just announced a new camera-centric flagship smartphone you won’t be able to buy. Well, most of you won’t be able to buy, is the better way to put it. The phone’s name is Sharp Aquos R9 pro.
Sharp has a new camera-centric flagship to offer, but its availability will be limited
This handset was announced in Japan, as you may have guessed. It will be hitting the Japanese market in December, and will then move to Taiwan, Indonesia, and Singapore. That’s about it, though. Users from Europe and the US won’t be able to get their hands on it.
This phone does offer a rather unique design, and it’s obvious it’s camera-centric. There is a huge camera oreo on the back, with three cameras on the inside. Leica lenses are also a part of the package.
Sharp used vegan leather on the backplate, though what’s interesting is that leather doesn’t cover the entirety of the backplate. Sharp left some room on the left side for whatever reason, probably for the design effect.
A flat display is used, while the phone also includes a physical camera shutter
On the front, you’ll see a flat display with a centered display camera hole at the top. The bezels are very thin here. All the physical buttons sit on the right side. The power/lock key is located below the volume up and down buttons, while the camera shutter key is placed lower on the right side.
This smartphone has a 6.7-inch QHD+ (3120 x 1440) Pro IGZO OLED display. That panel offers a variable refresh rate from 1 to 240Hz, and an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner too.
The SoC choice is a bit odd, though
The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 fuels this smartphone, not the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is an interesting move by Sharp. The phone also offers 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
There is also a vapor chamber cooling system included here, and it extends to the ring around the camera too, which is interesting. That camera ring can also hold accessories like ND or polarized filters for the camera.
Four 50.3-megapixel cameras are used here, three of which are on the back
A 50.3-megapixel main camera packs in a huge 1/0.98-inch sensor. That camera has a 23mm f/1.8 aperture lens and supports OIS. A 50.3-megapixel telephoto camera offers an f/2.6 aperture lens and uses a 1/1.56-inch sensor. 2.8x optical zoom is available, as is 20x digital zoo. OIS is supported here too.
The third camera on the back is a 50.3-megapixel unit too, but with a 13mm f/2.2 aperture lens. This camera offers a field-of-view (FoV) of 122 degrees and is used to capture macro shots. A fourth camera sits on the front, and it’s also a 50.3-megapixel unit. It has a 23mm f/2.2 aperture lens with an 84-degree FoV.
Android 14 comes pre-installed, while the phone is water and dust resistant
A 5,000mAh battery is also included, while WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 are both supported. Android 14 comes out of the box, while the phone will receive up to 3 OS updates and 5 years’ worth of security patches. It’s IP68 certified for water and dust resistance too.
This smartphone is priced at JPY190,000 ($1,235). Sharp will also be selling a case with a sholuder strap, so that you can pretend this phone is a dedicated camera. Considering the price of the device, however, it’s odd Sharp didn’t go with the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC.
