The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is the best camera phone I

Oppo Find X9 Ultra: Two-minute review

The Oppo Find X8 Ultra was one of the best camera phones to launch in 2025, but there was one big problem: you could only officially get it in China. Now, its successor has landed, and thankfully, this one’s launching globally.

Really, though, it’s the cameras that are the main attraction, and this is no small upgrade. The phone’s main camera has been bumped up to 200MP, as has the 3x periscope telephoto lens. Meanwhile, the ultra-wide gets a significantly larger sensor, and the 6x telephoto has been replaced with a 10x unit.

The Find X8 Ultra was already amazing, but the X9 Ultra takes smartphone imaging to new heights. It has the best zoom of any phone I’ve tested, and captures stunning shots in all lighting conditions.

Plus, it benefits from Hasselblad-approved film simulations and stunning portrait mode effects. And that’s before we get into its video chops, where the Oppo Find X9 Ultra boasts up to 4K 120fps recording with Log and Dolby Vision, with the ability to bake in LUTs.

If you want to take your video and photography capabilities even further, there’s an amazing photography kit and teleconverter lens available for the Find X9 Ultra — but it doesn’t come cheap. At the time of writing, I haven’t put this kit through its paces, but the 300mm-equivalent teleconverter looks to be one of the most impressive offerings so far.

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra has been an absolute delight to live with, and I find myself with almost zero complaints. The software is brilliant, the battery life is solid, the performance is top-notch, and the cameras may be the best of any phone yet.

The only things that might deter some people are the physical size and weight of this phone, as well as its price. But if you want the best camera phone on the market, those are the sacrifices you have to make. In my eyes, the Find X9 Ultra is absolutely worth it.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Price and availability

• 12GB + 512GB for £1,449
• Launched ‘globally’ for the first time
• Not available in the US

• Value score: 4 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Specs

Here’s a look at the Oppo Find X9 Ultra’s key specs:

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Design

• Hasselblad X2D-inspired design
• Tundra Umber and Canyon Orange options
• IP68 + IP69 dust and water-resistant

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is available in two distinct and bold color options for the global market. I opted for the Tundra Umber version, which takes design cues from Hasselblad’s X2D medium format camera.

It has a brownish finish with a metallic sheen, covered by two panels of black vegan leather that mimic the look of a camera grip. The camera control button (or Quick Key) has Hasselblad’s signature orange finish, and there’s a subtle orange ring around the camera island, too.

The Canyon Orange version makes even more of a statement. It foregoes the vegan leather panelling in favor of a smooth glass back with a subtle swirling pattern. They both look stunning, but if you’re a camera nerd, Tundra Umber is the obvious choice.

The X9 Ultra has a large circular camera module, just like its predecessor, but this one looks a little different. While the base platform is a circle, the glass lens covering is now a curved hexagonal shape. It’s a somewhat unusual decision that I’m not entirely sold on.

I’m not sure of the exact reasoning behind it, but if I had to guess, I think Oppo is attempting to mimic the shape of the aperture opening on a high-end lens.

Taking clear inspiration from Apple’s latest iPhones, and following in the footsteps of the X9 Pro, the X9 Ultra has its version of both an Action Button and Camera Control button. Of course, you get the usual volume rocker and lock button, as well.

I’m a big fan of these buttons on the iPhone, so I’m happy to see them here, too. Oppo could have done something a little more original, but there’s no arguing with the utility.

The Action Button (or Snap Key, as Oppo calls it) has all the same functionality as Apple’s equivalent, but Oppo’s version of the Camera Control (Quick Button) is more limited.

You can still use it to open the camera app with a double tap, swiping it zooms in and out, and pressing it takes a photo. However, it’s not customizable like Apple’s version. You can’t use it to adjust your EV compensation, switch filters, or half-press it to focus. These features seem like they’d be easy enough to implement, but for some reason, Oppo hasn’t done so.

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra has both IP68 and IP69 certifications. This means it’s effectively dust and waterproof, and it’ll even survive blasts from jets of hot water. Handy, if you ever accidentally run it through the dishwasher.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Display

• 6.82-inch 144Hz OLED display
• Similar shape to the S25 Ultra
• 3,600 nits peak brightness

The first thing that struck me about the X9 Ultra’s display is that the corners have a much sharper radius than other phones in the Find X9 family.

It reminds me of the screen on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. It occupies a middle ground between sharp 90-degree corners and a softer, more iPhone-like curve.

The result is a display that feels noticeably larger than that of the Find X9 Pro, without actually taking up much more pocket space.

The downside is that it doesn’t benefit from the same razor-thin bezels as the Pro model. They’re still slim, but they’re nowhere near as impressive.

Another standout is the fact that this phone has a 144Hz adaptive refresh rate, rather than 120Hz. I’d be lying if I said I could tell the difference, but if you’re in the upper echelons of competitive gaming, you might appreciate it more.

Otherwise, the screen on the Find X9 Ultra gives you exactly what you’d expect from a top-tier flagship phone.

The colors are vibrant and accurate, the contrast levels are impeccable, and it gets more than bright enough to compete with strong sunshine.

If you’re sensitive to flicker, you’ll be pleased to learn that the Find X9 Ultra has a speedy 2160Hz PWM dimming frequency, too.

• Display score: 5 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Cameras

• 200MP main (f/1.5)
• 50MP ultra-wide (f/2)
• 200MP 3x telephoto (f/2.2)
• 50MP 10x telephoto (f/3.5)

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is almost more camera than phone, and with such significant hardware changes, there’s a very good chance that this will be the most advanced camera phone of 2026. Every single camera has been upgraded over the Find X8 Ultra, which was already one of the best camera phones we’d ever tested.

On the rear, there are four cameras. The main camera has a 1/1.2-inch 200MP sensor with an f/1.5 aperture, the ultra-wide is 50MP f/2.0 with a larger 1/1.95-inch sensor, and the first telephoto is a 200MP 3x periscope f/2.2 with a massive 1/1.28inch sensor.

Arguably, it’s the second telephoto that’s the most exciting of the bunch. It’s a 10x lens, the first we’ve seen on a flagship since Samsung ditched its own 10x lens on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is an equivalent lens, though. Oppo says the Find X9 Ultra’s second telephoto lens has 306% better light-gathering capabilities than that of the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

It’s a 50MP unit with a 1/2.75-inch sensor and an f/3.5 aperture. Oppo is so confident about the performance of this new lens that it says it’s like having the external teleconverter for the X9 Pro built in.

Of course, we can’t forget about the selfie camera. This camera has also been upgraded, although the changes aren’t quite so drastic. It’s now 50MP, up from 32MP, and Oppo says the autofocus has been optimized, as has the image processing.

I won’t beat around the bush; this is likely the best smartphone camera system I have ever used. The Vivo X300 Ultra provides some stiff competition, but without a dedicated 10x lens, it’s easy to argue that the Find X9 Ultra is more versatile.

Regardless of which lens you use, and in all lighting conditions, you can expect exceptional detail and clarity. The combination of high-resolution sensors and optical reach means that this phone outclasses just about everything with its digital zoom — and if you want to go even further, you can add the external teleconverter lens.

The phone’s default image processing gives you vibrant, sharp, and contrasty images, but if you want photos that look more like they were shot with a DSLR, you can switch to the Hasselblad Master mode.

Master Mode removes the HDR effect, has less digital sharpening, and uses zero generative AI in its processing. For this model, Oppo has added nine new film simulations that work in this mode, and each can be customized to your preference. I found that a lot of the film sims leaned too heavily on the cooler tones for my liking, but that’s no issue, as I can just increase the color temperature myself.

There’s also a new addition called Soft Light, which essentially mimics the effect of a Pro Mist filter. There are two strengths available, and both add some bloom to the highlights. It makes photos look like film stills, or like they came from a vintage camera, and I immediately fell in love with the effect.

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is just as ambitious when it comes to professional video features. Every lens can shoot at up to 4K 60fps in either Dolby Vision or Log, while the main and 3x telephoto can do so at 4K 120fps. You can preview your video with real-time LUTs or burn them into the final recording. There are three stylised LUTs as standard, but you can also import your own.

• Cameras score: 5 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Camera samples

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Performance

• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset
• 12GB RAM
• 512GB storage

The Oppo X9 Ultra is powered by one of the fastest processors money can buy: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The global version only comes in one variety, with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage as standard.

Oddly, the Ultra model has less RAM than the X9 Pro, which has 16GB. Oppo hasn’t mentioned the reason, but I think it’s safe to assume that current RAM prices are to blame. Regardless, this disparity didn’t seem to have a negative impact during my testing.

It probably won’t shock you to learn that the Find X9 Ultra performs like the best of them. It feels super snappy, no matter what you’re doing. That’s partly thanks to the optimization and animation style of the ColorOS platform, and partly due to the amount of raw horsepower under the hood.

I played a few hours of Wuthering Waves on the highest graphical settings, and the Find X9 Ultra handled it perfectly. The phone’s frame got quite toasty after a while, but it never became uncomfortable to hold, and the framerates remained rock steady.

Of course, if you’re more interested in productivity than gaming, the performance of the Find X9 Ultra will help there, too. I was able to combine multiple clips of high-bitrate 4K video in Luma Fusion, and the phone barely broke a sweat.

It’s also worth mentioning the speakers, as they’re quite impressive. There’s an audible improvement compared to the previous model, with better clarity at the top end and almost zero distortion at max volume.

• Performance score: 5 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Software

• ColorOS 16, based on Android 16
• New AI features
• Styling updates and Mind Space

ColorOS has been my favourite Android skin for a while now, and Oppo continues to improve it with new features. The basics remain the same, so if you used a recent Oppo, OnePlus, or Realme device, you’ll have a good idea of what’s in store.

Recent versions of the software have some very Apple-like touches, which seems to be a trend with Chinese brands of late. There are Liquid Glass-looking elements, a Dynamic Island clone, depth effects, and stretched clocks for the lock screen; even the UI for the Action Button looks identical to Apple’s.

Again, no awards for originality, but I can’t help liking what Oppo has done here. These features all look fantastic, and the Dynamic Island-like cutout is as useful as ever, allowing me to quickly get to my media playback, timers, and more.

As for what’s new, there’s a lock screen feature called Live Space, which looks very similar to Samsung’s Now Bar. It’s found in the same place at the bottom of your screen, but this one just displays notifications, rather than AI updates.

Oppo has also been hard at work on its AI Mind Space app. It’s still in beta, but it basically works like Nothing’s Essential Space or the Screenshots app on a Samsung or Pixel phone. It collects screenshots of important information and uses AI to organize them, summarize them, and make them searchable.

Oppo differentiates itself with the features it adds on top. If you often take photos or screenshots of your receipts, for instance, the new AI Bill Manager can help you keep track of your finances.

There’s also a new feature called Mind Pilot, which lets you chat with Gemini, Perplexity, and Deep Seek, all from a single app. The idea is that Mind Pilot will match your query with the AI that’s most suited to help.

It could be handy if you’re a chatbot hopper, but unfortunately, on my prerelease software, Mind Pilot wasn’t working correctly. It would match my query with an AI, but then the answer would never materialize.

There are some other features that aren’t quite as new, but are still worth mentioning. I love O+ Connect, which is a piece of software that lets me control my Mac or PC with my phone, and vice versa. It even lets me copy and paste between the two, which is super handy.

There’s also a feature called AI Speak, which reads websites aloud in a natural-sounding voice, no matter which browser you use. It’s nothing new, but it’s just as handy as ever.

When it comes to long-term support, Oppo pledges five years of major OS upgrades and six years of security patches to the Find X9 Ultra. That’s behind the likes of Samsung and Google, but it’s not a bad offering.

• Software score: 4 / 5

Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: Battery

• 7,050mAh silicon-carbon battery
• 100W wired charging
• 50W wireless charging

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra has a 7,050mAh battery, which is big, but bizarrely, it’s significantly smaller than the 7,500mAh pack found in the Pro model. I suppose all of these giant camera sensors take up space that would otherwise be filled with a battery.

Still, that battery will last you a long time. I couldn’t consistently squeeze two days of use from this phone like I could with the Find X9 Pro, but a day and a half was pretty typical with my usage.

Of course, your mileage with the Find X9 Ultra will vary depending on how you use it. The camera system seems to be the most power-hungry, followed by high-end mobile games, but that’s not too surprising.

When it’s time to charge, the Find X9 Ultra won’t have you waiting for long. It supports speeds of up to 100W with the right charger, but you don’t get one in the box, just a USB-C cable.

Just half an hour on the charger was enough to take this phone from zero to over 70%. However, that’s with Oppo’s official wall adapter; third-party chargers take far longer.

Wireless charging is also rapid. This phone can charge at 50W with one of Oppo’s AirVooc chargers, which is incredibly convenient, but those chargers don’t come cheap.

• Battery score: 4 / 5

Should you buy the Oppo Find X9 Ultra?

Buy it if…