OPPO Find X9 Ultra review: It’s not the camera that scares us, it’s the battery life

AI Bill Manager is an OPPO AI-powered sub-feature that relies on Mind Space. Basically, if you use your Snap Key to “screenshot” a digital receipt, AI Bill Manager will read it for you and organise the receipt’s information into a more legible, copyable format, including details like the date, time, and any reference or invoice numbers you might need.

What’s cool is that it also works with physical, offline receipts, including handwritten ones. We tried by taking a photo of a handwritten cash sales receipt from a mattress shop, and it was able to itemise the things purchased, the date, the exact measurements of each product, and other sensitive information like the delivery address, salesperson’s name, and invoice number. This conversion of handwritten receipts into digital records relies on legible handwriting; otherwise, the AI might read them incorrectly (such as “7”s that resemble “1”s or a “u” that resembles a “v”). 

We tried AI Bill Manager with an old receipt and it works fine.

Photo: HWZ

AI Menu Translation at work.

Photo: HWZ

The only catch AI Bill Manager has is that it needs an Internet connection to work. This is mildly concerning, given that personal finance data and its related details are among some of the most sensitive types of information one can divulge.

Moving on, AI Menu Translation is a feature in OPPO’s own Translate app that converts foreign text on restaurant or café menus. OPPO said we are limited to 30 uses per month. We experimented with a ramen shop menu written in both Japanese and English to check for translation errors. It captured every food and drink item correctly, save for some nuances it couldn’t understand. You can also zoom in or use the “bilingual” button to get a more legible layout, but it messes up the translation’s order and flow. It also supports offline translation if you’re prepared to download the required language packs.

While it’s a nice alternative to cross-check against Google Translate’s photo translation feature, the limited number of uses and messy digitisation mean you can’t truly replace your translator with OPPO AI.

Finally, OPPO Find X9 Ultra’s Quick Share will get native compatibility with Apple’s AirDrop. In short, your friend with an iPhone or iPad can receive files or photos from your Find X9 Ultra without needing to download another app, because the Find X9 Ultra’s Quick Share feature connects automatically to their AirDrop. 

Sadly, this feature wasn’t ready when we reviewed the phone. The O+ Connect app for iOS devices still worked fine for us, so it wasn’t much trouble moving photos over to an iPhone anyway.

All in all, the operating system is a joy to use (like before), and we can see OPPO trying their best to make more useful AI features, even if they don’t get it right all at once.

Imaging Performance

True to its name, the OPPO Find X9 Ultra’s rear cameras go beyond those of the Pro version. It has a True Color Camera and four rear cameras that take photos (instead of three):

• 200MP main camera, Sony LYT-901 (1/1.2-inch) sensor, f/1.5 aperture, OIS, 23mm default
• 200MP 3x telephoto camera, OmniVision OV52A (1/1.28-inch) sensor, f/2.2 aperture, OIS, 15cm minimum focusing distance, 70mm default
• 50MP ultrawide camera, Sony LYT-600 (1/1.95-inch) sensor, f/2.0 aperture, AutoFocus, 14mm default
• 50MP 10x telephoto camera, Samsung JNL,(1/2.75-inch) sensor, f/3.5 aperture, sensor shift optical stabilisation, 230mm default

Taken with the main camera at 1x.

Photo: HWZ

Taken with the 10x telephoto camera.

Find X9 Ultra’s fifth True Color Camera doesn’t shoot in a traditional sense. It is a multispectral sensor that adds more colour data to your shots on the other four shooters. It’s also improved over the one in the Find X9 Pro, with OPPO claiming it has 5.5x better dynamic range while consuming 80% less power.

As for the Find X9 Ultra’s main camera, OPPO says it is the largest 200MP sensor in a smartphone (the Xiaomi 17 Ultra has a larger 1-inch sensor, but it’s 50MP). An added perk is the fast f/1.5 aperture lens, enabling faster shutter speeds in automatic shooting by letting in more light. One upside to such a high-resolution sensor is that it enables a 2x crop zoom mode at 50MP resolution, so you’re not losing much detail while getting near-optical-quality zoom.

In its default shooting mode, the Find X9 Ultra produces photos that are pleasing to the eye. Certainly, colours are on the warmer side, and the end result is photos that look and feel cosy. But upon closer examination, it’s obvious that there’s a lot of processing happening. Looking at the gallery above, you can see how the edges and textures are aggressively smoothed out to create a dreamy look. 

Purists might find this bothersome, and that’s completely valid. Happily, users can sidestep this problem completely by using the Hasselblad Master Mode. This mode minimises processing and only applies Hasselblad’s colour science to the photos. If you look at the images below, you’ll see that they retain more detail and look more realistic. This is our preferred mode of shooting with the Find X9 Ultra.

Shot in Master Mode with the Vintage NC film filter.

Photo: HWZ

Shot in Master Mode with the Vintage NC film filter.

Photo: HWZ

Both telephoto cameras (3x optical and 10x optical) employ different periscope methods to stack their magnification. Keen-eyed folks would notice it uses an even larger sensor than the OPPO Find X9 Pro’s 3x optical zoom camera, plus it has a rare 10x optical zoom that the Pro version doesn’t get.

The 10x optical zoom is an added point in favour of OPPO’s Ultra phone. Samsung, which once had an amazing 10MP 10x optical zoom, stopped offering it after the Galaxy S23 Ultra. This is ironic considering the OPPO is using a Samsung sensor in its 10x telephoto camera. We will concede that a 10x telephoto camera has little practical use in day-to-day life unless you are an active birdwatcher. However, when the need arises, you’ll be happy that you have it. Furthermore, we find that telephoto cameras are invaluable when it comes to taking holiday photos.

There’s a lot more to the cameras on this phone, like macro support and crop zoom for its 3x shooter, 50MP RAW shots across all four shooting cameras, and a high-resolution mode that lets you shoot both 50MP and 200MP photos.

And if you need more reach, OPPO also sells a teleconverter kit called the Hasselblad Earth Explorer Kit (S$499) that mounts to the 3x telephoto camera and extends the Find X9 Ultra’s optical telephoto focal length to a whopping 300mm.

We only had a very short period of time with the teleconverter kit, but the photos we got out of it were very impressive. As you can see in the gallery below, there’s plenty of detail at both the 13x optical and 30x optical-quality zooms, and that extra reach gives you the ability to try and shoot subjects that might be impossible previously for a smartphone camera. Have a look at the last photo in our sample image slideshow below to understand what we mean.

One thing worth pointing out about the kit is that you will require very steady hands (or a tripod) to get pin-sharp photos because any sort of handshake is magnified at those zoom levels. There’s definitely some AI processing going on as well, to sharpen the images, but we reckon it’s necessary at 30x zoom.

As for video, the phone is capable of recording 8K footage at both 30fps and 24fps, and 4K footage at 120fps. This is supported by all cameras except the ultrawide.

Benchmark Performance

The details on how we benchmark Android phones can be found here.

OPPO Find X9 Ultra uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, Qualcomm’s 2026 premium flagship chipset for phone manufacturers. This chipset choice differs from that of the OPPO Find X9 Pro we reviewed, which uses MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500 (a rival company’s premium flagship processor).

Also, unlike the foldable OPPO Find N6, which had the 7-core variant of the same Snapdragon processor, OPPO Find X9 Ultra comes with all 8 CPU cores running at the processor’s standard clock rates (2 prime cores at 4.61GHz each and 6 performance cores at 3.63GHz each). 

Now that OPPO finally has its Ultra variant out in the international market, it has to compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, Xiaomi 17 Ultra, and the Honor Magic8 Pro — all of which are 2026 flagship alternatives that also have the same Snapdragon processor.

Battery Life

Our battery benchmark uses PCMark for Android’s Work 3.0 Battery Life, with results shown in minutes. This controlled benchmark simulates real-world usage, such as web and social media browsing, video and photo editing, parsing data with various file formats, writing, and more. The test starts at 100% and ends with 20% left on the device.

All our attempts with the OPPO Find X9 Ultra’s battery life test exceeded 24 hours on its 7,050mAh silicon-carbon battery. As with all other battery life tests we’ve done, we ran ours at maximum resolution (1440p) rather than the default 1080p. Because we cut off battery testing at 20% charge (before any battery-saving modes kick in), we believe its full capacity could’ve easily exceeded 24 hours of uptime.

We also never had the chance to fully deplete the phone, since our normal, real-world use meant we charged once at the end of the day. 

Among Chinese Android phone brands that use newer silicon-carbon technology to store and deliver charge, OPPO has also proven itself reliable by consistently posting higher-than-average uptime. This was also true for its 2026 foldable, OPPO Find N6, as well as its Find X9 Pro. It took several years, but silicon-carbon batteries are finally offering higher uptimes than traditional lithium ones (it used to be that they had the same uptime, even with more mAh, per our past phone reviews).

In the 40 minutes we left the phone idle to charge, it went from 18% to 76%, and it took a total of 75 minutes to charge from 0 to 100%. The wired SuperVOOC charging ensures you don’t have to wait long to enjoy full-day, untethered battery life.

We’ve also tried out its AirVOOC wireless charging and can confirm it charges without a phone case, though you’ll likely need to get its separately sold AirVOOC-compatible pucks or docks to get the most out of it.

Conclusion: It’s our leading pick for a flagship Android phone, but…

There can be no doubt that the OPPO Find X9 Ultra is an exceptional phone. With its remarkable performance, enduring battery life, fantastic cameras, and excellent feature set, it’s easily one of the best flagship Android phones you can buy right now. 

Crucially, the Find X9 Ultra compares favourably against the competition. Samsung’s S26 Ultra is also exceedingly competent, but apart from its Privacy Display feature and incredible Horizon Lock video stabilisation, it doesn’t have that wow factor that buyers of these types of phones crave.

Given its stronger focus on photography, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is arguably the keener competitor. However, not all may like the 17 Ultra’s application of Leica’s colour science, and there’s no question the Find X9 Ultra has the more impressive camera system – 4 vs 3 cameras. Furthermore, while the 17 Ultra also has a photography kit, it’s a more basic setup that only adds buttons and a battery. The OPPO teleconverter kit is a considerably more serious piece of a photography accessory. 

Of the three, the OPPO gets the nod. It pushes the limits of smartphone hardware in ways that surpass Samsung and Xiaomi. Primarily, it’s because its camera feature set and performance is more impressive. Furthermore, its long battery life helps make it a more convenient companion, particularly on vacations where one might feel more inclined to take more photos. 

Its closest rival, in fact, is a phone we haven’t tested, and that’s the Vivo X300 Ultra. On paper, the Vivo and OPPO have lots in common. They have the same Qualcomm chipset and have comparable camera systems. However, the x300 Ultra lacks the Find X9 Ultra’s additional 50MP 10x telephoto camera. But the Vivo counters with its teleconverter kit, which has interchangeable lenses, offering both 200mm and 400mm focal lengths. Sadly, we haven’t had the opportunity to give the Vivo X300 Ultra a go, so it’s difficult to say which is superior. Even so, the presence of the X300 Ultra doesn’t dampen our positive feelings towards the Find X9 Ultra.

So far, so good, but the Find X9 Ultra does find itself in a somewhat sticky situation because it is quite pricey. With a starting price of S$2,199 for the 512GB version, it’s marginally more expensive than a comparable S26 Ultra. The same is also true for the 1TB version, which is S$2,599. That’s a tad higher than what some were expecting, and surely some of the blame can be attributed to what’s happening around the world that’s out of OPPO’s control. Even so, it is, at the time of publishing, at least, the priciest flagship-class Android phone in the market.

If it’s any consolation, OPPO is attempting to sweeten the deal by offering attractive pre-order and launch promotions. From now until 6 May, customers can get the 512GB version for S$1,899 and the 1TB version for S$2,199 – that’s discounts of S$300 and S$400 respectively. They can also purchase the teleconverter kit at 20%, bringing its price down to S$399. At these prices, the Find X9 Ultra is a significantly more attractive purchase.

In short, if you already have your eyes set on the Find X9 Ultra, it pays to act fast. Or at least buy it before 6 May.