Update 2: So it looks like a lot of us got caught up in the semantics of what it means when a phone has "optical" zoom on a smartphone. Of course, it's not the same as having a true optical lens that moves along a focal plain; phone sensors interact with lenses of fixed focal lengths, and when we extrapolate those focal lengths we confer meaning by using a 35mm sensor-size equivalent.

In this case, OnePlus is using a 13MP sensor for its telephoto camera but when zoomed at 3x it only uses 8 megapixels of resolution, allowing a great crop factor without losing detail. Basically, yes: the 13MP sensor has a 2.2x equivalent focal length which, when cropped to 8MP, is 3x.

Juan Carlos Bagnell of SomeGadgetGuy has a very detailed writeup of this phenomenon which isn't unique to the OnePlus 7 Pro. It's just a little confusing because we write about optical zoom on phones the same way we write about it on proper cameras with moving components. Because of the tiny size of the sensors and very narrow lenses, zoom on phones relies largely on compromises between sensor size and distance from the lens.

While the original article is below for transparency, Android Central regrets the error.

-Daniel Bader, Managing Editor

Update 1: In a statement to Android Central, OnePlus has clarified that the 3x zoom is "lossless." Notice the distinct lack of references to optical zoom: