Zoom with a View
Oppo is finally getting serious about its Indian flagship game, and the first order of business seems to be keeping the good stuff for itself. Sorry, OnePlus, but it seems mum and dad said the 'Hasselblad' branding is staying firmly in Oppo’s toybox this year. It’s clear that the big three, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, are in a proper dust-up, pushing smartphone photography into ludicrous territory with frankly wild camera kits. But more on that later.
The Find X9 Pro is a brute. It’s a substantial slab of glass and metal, weighing in at a hefty 224 grams. This is largely thanks to the whopping 7500mAh battery wedged inside, so this is not a phone for dainty pockets.
It feels premium, mind. Our 'Titanium Charcoal' unit has a lovely, subtle non-reflective texture. The camera bump is... prominent, but tidily arranged in the corner. You get a new, customisable 'Snap Key' on the left frame and a 'Quick Button' on the right for camera duties.
It’s also built like a tank. It’s not just the usual IP68; Oppo has added IP66 and IP69 ratings too. This means it’s protected from high-pressure, high-temperature water jets, just in case you decide to clean it at a car wash. The best bit? The bezels are vanishingly thin at just 1.15mm on all four sides, making the front almost all-screen.
That all-screen front is a 6.78-inch, 1-120Hz AMOLED with a pin-sharp 450PPI resolution. It gets blindingly bright, easily searing my retinas more effectively than the iPhone 17 Pro. But the colours are a bit much for my liking. Reds and blues feel slightly boosted, like they’ve had one too many sugary drinks. It’s still a commendable panel, but I’m hoping there’s a 'natural' mode to dial it back.
For those of us who get queasy in the back of an Uber, there’s a new 'Vehicle Motion Alerts' feature which displays visual cues to help reduce motion sickness. What isn't up for debate, however, is the 3D Ultrasonic Fingerprint scanner. It’s bonkers-fast, 35% faster than conventional scanners, and hasn't failed me once, even with wet fingers.
Under the hood, the Find X9 Pro is one of the first phones running the new MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chipset. Our unit is kitted out with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and it absolutely flies.
App performance is slick, and the fluid animations are buttery smooth. PUBG Mobile ran like a dream, but curiously, our usual test game, Grid Legends, wasn't supported. We'll chalk this up to our pre-release software; the older MediaTek 9400 supports it, so this one should too. We’ll update this review after launch.
What really impressed me was the Gallery app. The built-in video editor is surprisingly comprehensive, with tools for trimming, cropping, and adding filters. Processing crops or applying edits is instant. No progress bars. Lovely.
Right, the main course. That camera module isn't just for show. Oppo has made some properly interesting and meaningful changes, starting with the 200MP Hasselblad telephoto sensor, which is used very tastefully.
In true Hasselblad fashion, it’s all about letting you crop into the high-res shot to reframe. But the real magic happens when you plonk the optional Hasselblad Teleconverter lens on top. The lens itself is a hefty, durable thing, clearly made in collaboration with Hasselblad. This gives you a 230mm focal length equivalent, which is, frankly, unreal. It delivers that delicious optical compression that squashes the background, creating dreamy portraits that software-based 'portrait modes' just can't replicate. The clarity, detail, and pure optical subject separation are top-dollar. It’s a genuinely fun bit of kit.
The photos you get from this teleconverter setup are only 9MP, not 200MP binned ones. I can't help but feel disappointed. I’d have loved all that extra resolution to play with, especially since the lens is sitting on that 200MP sensor.
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The rest of the setup holds its own. The 50MP main sensor and 50MP ultrawide are flagship-grade. Macro shots, using the ultrawide, are particularly crisp. Night photography is good, though it can be a tad aggressive on crushing shadows, but it produces a good photo all round.
The 50MP front camera is seriously good, but it has that classic Oppo look. It zaps shadows and creates a very pleasing, bright skin tone, which is lovely, but not quite what I see in the mirror. Video is perhaps the most improved area. It captures crisp, detailed 4K footage that doesn't look over-processed. Apple still wears the crown for consistent white balance, but Samsung and Oppo are snapping at its heels. This is a proper, A-grade camera, and of course, you get the lovely Hasselblad extras, like the cinematic XPAN mode and some tasty film simulation filters.
The phone runs ColorOS 16, which, let's be honest, is just OxygenOS 16 with a different hat on. If you've used a new OnePlus, you've used this. That's not a bad thing. The new 'Flux Home Screen' lets you create massive, resizable folders and app icons, and the new motion photo wallpapers are a nice touch. The real star, though, is the AI. I used the new AI Recorder for a meeting, and it was frighteningly accurate, providing real-time transcription and even understanding who was speaking and when.
The Oppo Find X9 Pro is shaping up to be a photography powerhouse with a battery that simply refuses to die. That telephoto lens and converter combo is a stroke of genius, even with the 9MP limitation. It’s a heavy beast, and the software is familiar, but Oppo has nailed the 'flagship' feel. It's a proper contender. Stay tuned for our full, in-depth review, which drops on 18th November at 1:00 PM (IST).
