With hundreds of concerts scheduled across China during the National Day holiday, some fans found the cheapest way to upgrade a seat was to rent a better camera phone.

For about 100 to 200 yuan ($15 to $30) a day, concertgoers can rent flagship smartphones with powerful telephoto cameras that pull distant performers into clearer view, a useful option when high demand leaves fans seated far from the stage and professional cameras and long lenses are often barred from venues.

On Chinese rental platform Renrenzu and Xianyu, a secondhand marketplace owned by Chinese tech giant Alibaba, some flagship phones are listed as “concert essentials.”

One Renrenzu ad touted a “200-megapixel telephoto, crystal clear — even the nosebleed seats feel VIP,” while the platform has also offered concert ticket reimbursements through prize draws.

The phones on offer are among the latest flagships from Chinese smartphone makers such as vivo and OPPO, with high-resolution telephoto cameras, image stabilization, and, in some cases, detachable lens kits that extend their reach.

A vivo X300 Ultra bundled with a telephoto lens, for example, rents for about 215 yuan for one day, while a two-day rental brings the average daily cost down to about 125 yuan. Other popular models include OPPO’s Find X10 Pro Max, which packs three 200-megapixel rear cameras and is advertised as supporting up to “20x lossless zoom” with its official telephoto kit.

Such high-end models typically sell for about 5,000 to 8,000 yuan, while official telephoto lens kits can add another 1,000 to 2,000 yuan, making a short rental far cheaper for fans who only want the extra reach for one concert.

Online, concertgoers are comparing phones and lens attachments, posting photos from the stands, and swapping tips on which setups work best from distant seats.

Liu Hang, who attended Taiwan singer Steve Chou’s concert at Beijing Workers’ Stadium, told Time Finance that he brought a Ruiying Z10 camera module and telephoto attachment made by Chinese tech giant Huawei into the venue. “I had a 580-yuan ticket, but with the ‘Huawei cannon,’ it felt like a 1,680-yuan seat,” he said.

Another social media user, who said he had attended nearly 100 concerts, compared several phones and camera setups for live shows. He said such phones were easy to carry, worked well for close-up shots, and had a dedicated stage mode that automatically adjusted exposure, though adding a telephoto attachment made it tiring to hold through an entire concert.

Renrenzu said orders for concert-related equipment jumped 388% year on year over the summer, far outpacing a 67% rise in short-term rentals overall. A total of 257 concerts were scheduled across China during the National Day holiday, according to Alibaba’s entertainment data platform Lighthouse.

Chen Shenyu, a manager at consulting firm China Insights Consultancy, told Time Finance that smartphone photography was becoming less about simply recording daily life and more about performing well in specific situations. Concerts are especially challenging because fans may be seated far from the stage, lighting changes constantly, and they are often shooting handheld photos and video.

That also makes concerts a natural showcase for smartphone makers, Chen said. If consumers increasingly reach for telephoto cameras at sporting events, on trips, and during family activities, demand for the same high-end imaging features could extend well beyond concerts.

(Header image: Posts show concertgoers using flagship camera phones with telephoto attachments to capture performers from the stands. From Xiaohongshu)