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I attend numerous briefings, and most of those are mundane; I take heed to a product man speak about no matter machine is launching, ask a number of questions, and be on my method. However when OPPO confirmed off the Discover X9 Extremely, there was a palpable sense of pleasure; that specific assembly had over 50 journalists, and we may really feel that this telephone was completely different.
That is why I used to be excited to get my fingers on the Discover X9 Extremely; I used the telephone as my each day driver for shut to 2 weeks now, and it is simply pretty much as good because the Vivo X300 Extremely — one thing I did not assume I might say this yr. The truth is, I want the design of the Discover X9 Extremely, it by some means has a good larger 7,050mAh battery, and the software program has significant options and nice customizability.
However these are all secondary concerns. For those who’re eyeing this telephone, it is due to the cameras, and to say that OPPO took issues to an entire new degree could be an understatement. The Discover X9 Extremely has two 200MP cameras, but it surely’s the dimensions of the sensors that is notable: the 200MP 3x tele lens has an enormous 1/1.28-inch sensor, making it the largest telephoto module but. The primary 200MP digicam is a 1/1.2-inch sensor, and it is clear that OPPO is positioning the Discover X9 Extremely as the perfect flagship digicam of 2026. Coming in at £1,499 ($2,023) for the 12GB/512GB version, it prices the identical because the Galaxy S26 Extremely, however you are getting a lot extra, as you will see on this evaluation.
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Having switched to the telephone from the Vivo X300 Extremely, I am going to admit that each gadgets excel with regards to the cameras, however the Discover X9 Extremely simply has that little little bit of an edge, and that finally makes it a greater total alternative. Identical to Vivo, OPPO is launching the Discover X9 Extremely globally, and the telephone will make its approach to most nations in Asia, in addition to the U.Okay. and different areas within the west.
There’s a lot to speak about with the cameras, with OPPO touting dozens of latest options. The Discover X9 Extremely comes with a brand new era of Hasselblad Grasp Digital camera System, and the model notes that every one 5 cameras on the machine are class-leading in their very own proper.
This digicam system is on one other degree fully
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The 200MP important digicam makes use of an f/1.5 Sony Lytia LYT-901 1/1.12-inch sensor with a 23mm focal size and OIS. Vivo makes use of the identical sensor within the X300 Extremely, but it surely has a default focal size of 35mm. Having used the 2, I want the 23mm focal size on the Discover X9 Extremely, because it’s a bit simpler to make use of. The primary digicam has higher HDR and dynamic vary throughout the board, and that is evident when utilizing the telephone towards the Discover X8 Extremely and the Discover X9 Professional. OPPO’s Lumo imaging engine is now capable of take full benefit of the 200MP sensor, and it doubles as a local 2x lens, delivering photographs at 50MP.
It is the 200MP f/2.2 OmniVision OV52A 3x telephoto lens that provides the telephone a particular edge. The 1/1.28-inch sensor is the largest tele lens on a telephone but, and if something, it is larger than the 1/1.3-inch important digicam of the Galaxy S26 Extremely — and that is the secondary lens. The lens has a 70mm focal size, and it will get OIS as nicely. OPPO says that the lens takes in 8.9 instances the quantity of sunshine because the S26 Extremely, and that is clearly evident when utilizing it to shoot 3x pictures at night time. The telephoto lens produces clear photographs at 6x as nicely, and also you get 50MP photographs at optical high quality. And it doubles as a macro shooter, taking pictures of objects simply 15cm away.
Now, the Discover X9 Extremely has one other tele lens, and it makes use of the 50MP f/3.5 Samsung JNL sensor. This can be a native 10x tele shooter, and it has a 1/2.75-inch sensor and 230mm focal size. It has a novel prism system to accommodate the sensor within the telephone, and it delivers lossless pictures at as much as 20x. Now, taking pictures at 10x handheld is difficult sufficient as it’s, and as such the lens has a novel sensor-shift stabilization system designed to assist on this regard. Oh, and it takes portrait photographs too.
Lastly, there’s the wide-angle lens, which is a 50MP f/2.0 Sony LYT-600 1/1.95-inch sensor with 14mm focal size. This lens is at the least a recognized amount, and it will get autofocus. Up entrance is a 50MP Samsung JN5 sensor, and it additionally has autofocus.
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OPPO lavished simply as a lot consideration on the picture tuning because the bodily cameras, and the Discover X9 Extremely will get a brand new Hasselblad Grasp Mode that is even higher. It makes use of a completely completely different structure to the usual Auto mode, and OPPO says it produces photographs with no use of AI in any way — you could have full management over the complete imaging chain. There are different customized modes, and the telephone is the one one to come back with Hasselblad’s Pure Colour Answer with HDR. You’ll be able to shoot 50MP RAW as nicely, and it has further extras when capturing video.
All 5 lenses can shoot 4K60 in Dolby Imaginative and prescient, and you may simply change between the lenses and get the identical coloration rendition. This can be a large level of rivalry on most flagships, as whereas the principle digicam is often good, the auxiliary lenses do not fairly measure up — that is not a difficulty on the Discover X9 Extremely, and it makes capturing movies on the telephone an absolute pleasure. The twin 200MP cameras can shoot 4K120 video, and there is 8K30, a brand new addition this yr.
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Okay, that covers the technical aspect, and let’s speak about how the cameras maintain up. I used the Discover X9 Extremely to take tons of of pictures, and I did not see any points with any of the quartet of rear lenses. The primary digicam does an unbelievable job in daylight and difficult conditions, producing pure tones with glorious white stability and coloration rendition. There is no denying that that is the perfect important digicam of any telephone, and OPPO did a wonderful job tuning it.
Equally, the 3x and 10x lenses are among the many greatest you will discover, and so they ship pictures of the identical caliber as the principle digicam — which is an achievement in its personal proper. The wide-angle lens does an excellent job on this space too, and truthfully, there is not a damaging with regards to the cameras.
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That is not all both; identical to Vivo, OPPO has digicam equipment that allow you to take advantage of out of the Discover X9 Extremely, and these embody a teleconverter package. The 300mm 13x Hasselblad exterior lens is in regards to the greatest I’ve used but, and it’s an absolute unit. There is a customized case that allows you to connect the lens to the telephone, and the complete package is bought as an adjunct bundle.
Even for those who do not buy the devoted teleconverter package, the Discover X9 Extremely by itself does sufficient to face above each different 2026 telephone. The standard of the digicam sensors mixed with the tuning makes it essentially the most versatile digicam telephone, and I do not see how some other model can come near this.
The Discover X9 Extremely is a battery powerhouse
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The Discover X9 Extremely has actually superb cameras, and fortunately, the remainder of the telephone is simply pretty much as good. Battery life is superb, because of a 7,050mAh silicon-carbon battery that is designed to final two days between prices. I acquired a day and a half even with heavy use, and more often than not, there simply wasn’t a must cost the telephone in a single day.
Speaking about charging tech, the telephone makes use of OPPO’s 100W charging, and the perfect half is that you just get 55W over any USB PD charger. This makes it extremely handy to cost the Discover X9 Extremely with nearly any charger, and there is a devoted battery administration platform with numerous options designed to extend battery longevity.
On that notice, the Discover X9 Extremely will get the identical 7,050mAh battery in all international areas, which is nice to see. This was a difficulty final yr on a number of Chinese language telephones, with the worldwide fashions touting considerably smaller batteries, so I am glad to see that not being the case in 2026.
It is designed to face out
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The design of the Discover X9 Extremely stands out from each different telephone, with OPPO leaning into the digicam aspect of issues. The Tundra Umber variant I am utilizing is styled to appear like a high-end Hasselblad digicam, and it has a vegan leather-based end that is nice to carry and use.
The styling means the Discover X9 Extremely is assured to show heads; I used it at a mall final week, and it acquired extra consideration than simply about some other telephone — solely the tri-fold Huawei Mate XT stood out extra. The leather-based end contrasts rather well with the aluminum mid-frame, and the bevels across the aspect make sure the telephone is snug to carry.
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Though it has a large battery, that is not evident when utilizing the telephone; I needed to affirm that my evaluation unit has a 7,050mAh battery, as a result of at 9.1mm and weighing 237g, it is just 11g heavier than its predecessor. That mentioned, it would not really feel uncomfortable or unwieldy within the least, and that is right down to the load distribution.
The digicam island takes heart stage (fairly actually), and just like the X300 Extremely, the Discover X9 Extremely has a large housing with a hoop encircling it. Fortunately, there isn’t any wobble when utilizing the telephone on a desk. It’s also possible to get the telephone in a Canyon Orange hue, however that is not made out of leather-based, and as a lot as I like my orange iPhone 17 Professional, Tundra Umber is the higher alternative for this telephone.
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The facility and quantity buttons are on the precise, and there is a devoted digicam management button this time as nicely; I like that it has an orange accent, however truthfully, I do not see the purpose of this button. It is available in the way in which of capturing pictures, and I by chance switched zoom ranges when making an attempt to take pictures, or triggered the digicam with out that means to. Fortunately, the button could be disabled, and I did simply that after a number of days of use.
You do not miss out on any necessities; the Discover X9 Extremely will get IP66, IP68, and IP69 mud and water resistance, and the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is among the many greatest round. There’s eSIM, NFC, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, USB 3.2 Gen 1, and a vibration motor that delivers glorious suggestions.
You get the perfect internals of any flagship
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Coming to the show, the 6.82-inch 144Hz LTPO AMOLED panel is similar to that of the X300 Extremely, and the 3168 × 1440 decision is among the many greatest on this class. You get ultra-thin 1.4mm bezels on all sides, and the panel is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2, a good addition. It has 2,160Hz PWM dimming when the panel goes beneath 70 nits, and DC dimming above that brightness.
Colours are detailed, and the telephone handles HDR content material with none points. There’s respectable customizability with regards to altering the colour stability or adjusting the font scaling, and the 144Hz refresh makes a slight distinction over the same old 120Hz panels. What I like is that the telephone goes right down to 1nit, and this makes utilizing it at night time simply that little bit extra snug.
On the entire, there are not any points with the panel on the machine, and it has good colours, nice vibrancy, and holds up extremely nicely whereas gaming.
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Switching over to the internals, the telephone will get the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 cell platform with superior thermal administration. Though OPPO utilized MediaTek with the opposite Discover X9 fashions, there isn’t any noticeable distinction with the transfer to Qualcomm; I did not see any slowdowns, gaming was simply as fulfilling, and crucially, there isn’t any overheating — which was a difficulty on different Qualcomm-based telephones I examined this yr.
My unit got here with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of storage, and there is a 16GB/1TB mannequin that is debuting globally. The 512GB mannequin must be enough, however I used up 170GB of storage in simply two weeks, and for those who’re capable of swing it, I would counsel getting the 1TB variant.
The software program has loads to love
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The one challenge I’ve with the software program on the Discover X9 Extremely is that it will not get as many software program updates as Google and Samsung telephones. OPPO is obstinate about delivering simply 4 Android OS updates, and whereas that is adequate on most gadgets, the Discover X9 Extremely deserves higher.
I examined the worldwide mannequin of the Discover X9 Extremely with the Android 16-based ColorOS 16.0.7, and because it was a preview construct, the telephone did not get Google Play certification. That meant I could not use Google Pay, and wasn’t capable of set up a number of banking utilities. Do not get me fallacious; the telephone comes with the Play Retailer and different Google providers pre-installed, and it is simply as straightforward to make use of as some other telephone bought globally, together with the Galaxy S26 Extremely and Pixel 10 Professional XL. The one challenge is that as OPPO hasn’t licensed the machine, I wasn’t in a position to make use of Google Pay. OPPO says the ultimate software program will likely be rolled out because the machine goes on sale, and these points must be resolved then.
Apart from that, ColorOS 16 is nice to make use of; it has a contemporary design, loads of helpful options, and numerous customizability. Now you can simply decrease notifications on the lock display right into a capsule that sits on the backside, stay alerts do an excellent job with meals supply updates, and there is loads of AI-assisted options, together with a brand new invoice supervisor.
On the entire, ColorOS is likely one of the greatest Android interfaces round, and alongside OriginOS, it is amongst my favorites. I just like the design, the feature-set, and it is optimized to benefit from the internals, and is total a pleasure to make use of.
The Discover X9 Extremely is the digicam improve you need
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The truth is, the overarching takeaway with the Discover X9 Extremely is that it would not have many negatives; aside from a number of software program quibbles, there is not something to level out. The cameras aren’t among the many greatest — they’re the perfect you will discover on any telephone in 2026.
The battery life can also be the perfect of any telephone I used till now, the AMOLED panel is likely one of the brightest, and also you get the most recent internals. There actually is not an space the place the machine falls quick, and for those who want a flexible digicam telephone, there isn’t any query that the Discover X9 Extremely is the one to beat proper now.
The Discover X9 Extremely takes telephone cameras to new heights, and it is launching globally. For those who’re utilizing a Samsung or Google telephone and need a true improve, that is unquestionably the telephone to get.
