With the Oppo Find X9 Ultra, Oppo is marketing a smartphone that is primarily an excellent camera, and it succeeds: the X9 Ultra pushes the boundaries of mobile photography.
The ‘Ultra’ in the Oppo Find X9 Ultra name doesn’t refer to the design or internals. Although this device can compete with the most powerful smartphones on the market, it doesn’t excel in a fight based on pure power. The massive camera island suggests where the focus actually lies. Oppo manages to single-handedly raise the bar for smartphone photography with a device that takes razor-sharp, stunning photos.
Specifications
Let’s start at the beginning. The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is an evolution of the Oppo Find X9 Pro. That smartphone already won us over with its spectacular cameras, excellent battery, and powerful internals. For the Ultra, Oppo pulls out all the stops, with noticeable results.
The device features a 6.82-inch screen with a resolution of 1,440 by 3,168 pixels. The beautiful Amoled display has an adaptive refresh rate of 144 Hz, with a maximum brightness between 944 cd/m² and 1 cd/m². In other words, the screen is pleasant and easy to read both in bright sunlight and in a dark bedroom.
Inside, we find a selection of powerful smartphone components:
- CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
- GPU: Adreno 840
- RAM: 12 GB
- Storage: 512 GB
- Battery: 7,050 mAh
With that hardware, you can be sure of a high-performance smartphone, although attentive Oppo connoisseurs will notice that the Oppo Find X9 Pro actually has 4 GB more with its 16 GB of RAM. The Ultra’s battery is also slightly smaller: 7,050 mAh compared to 7,500.
The former is, of course, due to the limited availability and high price of RAM. At 1,699 euros incl. VAT, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra is already pricey, and an extra 4 GB would drive the price tag even higher. For the battery, Oppo made a practical consideration: the 7,500 mAh size caused restrictions regarding the shipping of devices.
Not the very fastest
This edition of the Find X9 doesn’t earn the Ultra badge through its performance, although the Qualcomm processor is noticeably more powerful than the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 in the Oppo Find X9 Pro. Samsung squeezes just a bit more computing power out of an identical chip in the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (1,449 euros incl. VAT).
We've added the Motorola Edge 70 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 to the comparison to provide some perspective. This device has a suggested retail price of 799 euros incl. VAT.
Graphically, the Ultra takes another leap forward compared to the Pro thanks to the Qualcomm chip, but once again Samsung takes the gold medal. The OnePlus 15 also performs well with its identical Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
Surprised by the battery
The battery results are surprising, in a positive way. The Oppo Find X9 Ultra performs better than the Pro, despite the lower battery capacity. In our video test, which simulates light use, the phone is even the champion. The performance test simulates intense professional use with productivity applications and video calls. The Ultra performs well there too, and certainly much better than Samsung's response.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra may be slightly more powerful on paper, but the device needs to be plugged in much sooner. However, the phone does charge a lot faster than the Oppo Find X9 Ultra.
Oppo continues to stick to its SuperVooc standard for fast charging, which requires a special (not included) charger. Charging is then possible at 100 watts. This remains a bad and unnecessary idea. The Oppo Find X9 Ultra is compatible with USB-C Power Delivery, but at a lower wattage (55 watts). We note that this smartphone, like all previous Oppo Find devices, cannot consistently achieve the promised wattages either with SuperVooc or via Power Delivery.
Charging isn't slow, either: the battery is so large that you won't often drain it completely. With a day of intense use, we usually end up around half. In that case, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra is refueled quickly. Two days is easily achievable with average use, and Oppo guarantees that the battery will retain its charge even after years of use. Wireless charging is also supported.
Looking at the effective usage you get per minute of charging, we see that the Oppo Find X9 Ultra performs slightly better than the Pro and comes close to the Samsung Galaxy S29 Ultra. The OnePlus 15 does even better. The combination of the Qualcomm processor and 7,300 mAh battery seems to work.
More than fast enough
From all this, we conclude what we predicted earlier: the Oppo Find X9 Ultra can perfectly compete with the most powerful devices of the moment, but is not the most powerful itself, nor the champion with the best stamina.
That's not a problem. To begin with, the figures are so high that you won't notice a difference in daily use. Even the Motorola Edge 70 is actually quite fast and responsive. Everything about the Oppo Find X9 Ultra's performance easily clears the bar: this smartphone is as fast as you could wish for and lasts exceptionally long on a single charge.
The cameras steal the show
You can see immediately where the focus of the Oppo Find X9 Ultra really lies. The immense camera island and the design of the back hint at a camera for a reason. This phone has no equal when it comes to photography. Oppo has equipped the device well for this. On the back, we find four lenses with custom-selected sensors behind them:
- Ultra wide: 50 MP, 1/1.95”, f/2.0
- Main: 200 MP, 1/1.12”, f/1.5
- 3X: 200 MP, 1.28”, f/2.2
- 10X: 50 MP, 1/2.75”, f/3.5
The wide-angle camera with its 50 MP sensor is the 'weakest' link, and that's saying something. Oppo is also heavily focusing on both the main camera and the 3X zoom. The main camera receives a significant upgrade compared to the Find X9 Pro, and although the sensor specifications behind the 3X telephoto lens are similar, Oppo states that quality has been boosted here as well.
Creative options
The fact that the 3X camera continues to receive so much attention is a good thing. After all, the focal length of that lens (70 mm) is perfectly suited for portrait photography and more artistic shots. The focal length ensures that the background is realistically blurred, although software plays a role in enhancing the effect.
This works well: hair and other protrusions in the foreground are not accidentally blurred, as is sometimes the case with cheaper devices. Click on the photos for a larger version, or open the images in a new tab to zoom in fully on the full-resolution images.
The 3X camera emerged as our favorite during our test. The ratio of photos is more natural than that of the main camera due to the focal length.
The high resolution of the sensor and the 3X optical zoom, with the help of AI augmentation, already allowed you to zoom in significantly with the Pro, with great results at 12X zoom and beyond. For the Ultra, Oppo goes a step further with the introduction of the brand-new 10X telephoto lens.
A clever system of mirrors and prisms provides a long focal length in the compact camera housing, allowing you to zoom up to 10X optically and enjoy high quality up to 20X without too many artificial adjustments. Even the 30X zoom still produces beautiful photos in good lighting conditions.
The AI supports the zoom capability. The further you zoom in beyond 30X, the more extreme the AI processing becomes. This is fun as a gimmick, but it doesn't produce photos you would print and frame.
All camera systems except the wide-angle are equipped with optical image stabilization, with Oppo having worked on a system, especially for the zoom lenses, where movements are sufficiently compensated. Even when zoomed in far, the camera remains extremely stable.
Professional tool
We used the Oppo Find X9 Ultra during the test to support several articles following events. In such situations, the camera system makes it possible to take usable photos without a professional device with a special lens.
The combination of cameras invites experimentation. No single camera produces significantly better or worse images in terms of quality. Colors are excellent across the board.
As a result, we felt free during the test to switch between lenses and look for the option best suited to the situation. No other device, not even the already fantastic Oppo Find X9 Pro, invited us to take photos like this.
For the enthusiasts
Oppo is targeting (semi-)professional photographers looking for a compact solution. For example, there is a built-in mode to manually adjust settings, and you can turn off AI post-processing. The phone also supports RAW images and equivalent LOG recordings for video.
The cameras can all take photos at the sensor's full resolution. Pixel binning may occur when lighting conditions are not optimal, but it is not the default. This means a 200 MP photo remains a 200 MP photo, enabling significant zooming and cropping afterwards.
Of course, a smartphone doesn't truly replace a DSLR, but the best camera is the one you have with you. And with the Oppo Find X9 Ultra, you always have a very capable and versatile camera in your pocket. From an ant on the ground to a church tower far away on a mountain and everything in between: Oppo gives you an unprecedented suite of lenses and sensors to capture scenes.
Bloatware and advertising
Furthermore, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra is an Oppo device through and through. It runs on the same Android-based ColorOS that we find on other devices in the X9 series, and which has since made its way to the Find X8 series. Oppo promises five years of OS updates and six years of security updates for this device.
As we mentioned in previous reviews, it's a fine Android skin with a few rough edges. Bloatware is once again the biggest downside, and the sloppiness with which Oppo handles it is painful.
For example, during the phone's setup process, you get the option to exclude junk. Think of Oppo's own App Market, the lock screen magazine that displays unsolicited info when your phone is still locked, or a totally unnecessary internet browser called 'Internet'. It doesn't matter whether you uncheck that bloatware or not: Oppo will install all the rubbish anyway.
In addition to the aforementioned unsolicited features, you also have to remove Autodoc (where you buy car parts in a playful way) before use; Temu and AliExpress make their pre-installed appearance. TikTok, which isn't allowed on devices in every organization, is also ready to go here, and we could go on for a while. There is no excuse for cramming a 1,699 euro device so full of advertising.
Battery bug
The power-saving mode also still doesn't work properly. ColorOS treats all applications in a so-called 'smart' mode, which is unfortunately very stupid. The OS then blocks background activity, but does so poorly. You will miss messages from Signal or WhatsApp, and your apps will lose connectivity for no apparent reason when you bring them from the background to the foreground again. For apps you use frequently, you must manually activate 'Allow background activity' in the battery settings after installation.
Both the bloatware and the stupid battery saving are frustrating, but not that impactful. They require some extra attention when setting up the Oppo Find X9 Ultra, but they are by no means a dealbreaker. After five minutes, we had forgotten the frustration and were immersed in the camera.
Finally, we note that the Oppo Find X9 Ultra is tough. Not only does the device have IP68 and IP69 certifications, we can say with certainty that it can survive a fall from a chair onto cobblestones unscathed.
Top choice
That's why we unhesitatingly give the Oppo Find X9 Ultra the 'Editor's Choice' label. Anyone looking for a smartphone with photography in mind, and who wants the very best, has only one option. With its well-thought-out selection of cameras, the Find X9 Ultra supports a multitude of creative possibilities and is currently unrivaled.
In terms of performance and battery, the device also competes in the top category. The fact that a competitor scores a few percentage points better in the benchmark table does not translate into a worse experience for the Oppo Find X9 Ultra.
Oppo is asking a lot of money for this smartphone: 1,699 euros incl. VAT. The manufacturer can get away with it because there is simply no real competitor on the market today that matches the photo quality of the Find X9 Ultra.
Tested: Oppo Find X9 Ultra, 12 GB RAM, 512 GB storage, Energy Label A – 1,699 euros incl. VAT.
Pros
- 3X lens with 200 MP
- 10X telescope lens
- Equal top quality for all cameras
- High performance
- Excellent battery
- Excellent screen
- Build quality
Cons
- Bloatware, whether you want it or not
- Stupid battery saving
- Only 100-watt charging with proprietary charger
- PD does not work well as advertised (55 watts)