Vivo and Oppo’s telephoto extender comes to iPhone

PGYTech, the accessory manufacturer behind the official telephoto extender lenses for recent Vivo and Oppo flagships, has launched a Kickstarter for a new version developed for iPhones.

The RetroVa Vintage Imaging Kit looks an awful lot like the camera kits for those phones, complete with a custom case, slide-on camera grip with built-in battery and manual controls, and of course a 2.35x telephoto lens extender. This is the first to include a microSD slot though. There are versions for iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, and iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. Since it’s unofficial, the telephoto will only work in PGYTech’s camera app, not Apple’s.

Other companies have made lenses like this for iPhones, but rarely full accessory kits like this. I tested PGYtech’s hardware on the Vivo X200 Ultra and Oppo Find X9 Pro, and found the lens extender extraordinary, and the grip convenient, though build quality for the case is a little lackluster. That’s the main thing that worries me about the $229.95 price tag here — down to $184 for early Kickstarter orders — though it’s less if you just want the case and grip, not the lens.