OPPO Find X9 Review: Everyday Flagship Done Right

Every year, OPPO comes in strong with their flagship Find X series, and for 2025, the Find X9 Series is seriously turning heads. This time, OPPO has fine-tuned every part to make it not just a powerful phone but one that feels practical for daily use. It focuses on what truly matters for most users such as design, performance, and especially the camera system. We got our hands on the OPPO Find X9, and I even brought it along to the launch event at Penang. Let’s dive in and see what this flagship has to offer, and how it performs in real life.

Design

Right out of the box, the Titanium Grey version of the Find X9 immediately gives off a premium vibe. The matte metallic finish looks elegant with a slight shine, while the nano-etched texture helps reduce fingerprints — something you’ll definitely appreciate if you prefer to go caseless. It feels smooth and cool to the touch, and the flat edges with gentle curves make it comfortable to hold for long periods.

At only 7.99mm thick and weighing around 203 grams, the phone is surprisingly slim considering it houses a massive 7025mAh battery inside. The rear camera module sits neatly in the top-left corner and blends seamlessly with the frame, creating a balanced geometric look. The design is practical too, as your fingers won’t accidentally smudge the lenses whether you’re taking photos vertically or playing games horizontally.

The new Snap Key is another interesting addition. This physical button on the side can be fully customised for different actions such as launching the camera, activating the flashlight, or taking screenshots, giving you more flexibility to suit your preference. By default, it’s bound to AI Mind Space, where a short press captures the screen, a long press adds a voice note, and a double press opens up Mind Space.

Durability-wise, the Find X9 is also one of the most durable flagships available today with IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings. It is resistant to dust, water immersion, and even high-pressure jets, so you can safely use it by the pool or during rain without worry.

Display

The Find X9 features a 6.59-inch flat AMOLED display that strikes a nice balance between being compact and immersive. It is comfortable to use with one hand but still large enough for watching shows or gaming comfortably. The bezels are ultra-thin at just 1.15mm on all sides, giving you a clean, symmetrical look and a near edge-to-edge viewing experience.

In terms of quality, it’s excellent. It supports a 120Hz refresh rate, 10-bit colour depth, and full DCI-P3 colour coverage. Brightness reaches up to 3600 nits outdoors, making it readable even under strong sunlight. At night, the 3840Hz PWM dimming makes it more comfortable for the eyes. The display can dim all the way down to 1 nit, which is perfect for low-light viewing before bed.

The 3D Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner is also a neat touch. It’s 35% faster and 33% more reliable than the previous generation and works even if your fingers are slightly wet or oily. Unlike typical optical scanners, this one does not flash like a flashbang when you unlock in the dark, which makes it much more pleasant to use. Small detail, big comfort.

Another thoughtful addition would be the Vehicle Motion Alerts, a clever feature designed to reduce motion sickness when using your phone in a moving car. It works by showing subtle edge movements that align with the motion of the vehicle, helping your eyes and inner balance stay in sync.

Camera

The camera is easily the biggest highlight of the OPPO Find X9. It comes with a powerful setup co-engineered with Hasselblad, featuring three 50MP rear lenses and a dedicated True Color Camera for accurate colour reproduction.

The main camera uses a large Sony LYT-808 sensor that grabs tonnes of light. Shots are instantly sharp with fantastic dynamic range, even in dim conditions. Low-light photos are bright and detailed without looking too processed. The ultra-wide camera keeps everything consistent without that washed-out look you sometimes get on other phones, and it also doubles as a macro shooter, letting you get as close as 3.5cm to the subject.

The telephoto camera, powered by the LYT-600 sensor, supports 3x optical and 6x lossless zoom with OPPO’s exclusive Triple Prism Lens that lets you capture faraway details with amazing clarity. Compared to its Pro counterpart, which features a 200MP telephoto lens, the Find X9 is better in the sense that the switching from 1x to 3x looks much more seamless due to both lenses being the same quality.

From top left: 1x, 3x, 6x, 10x, 120x

The True Color Camera helps capture more accurate tones in tricky lighting situations such as neon lights or warm café environments. It measures the colour temperature in different zones and adjusts the image to produce natural-looking colours. Simply put, you get what you see with your eyes. All of this is powered by the LUMO Image Engine, OPPO’s advanced image processing system. It combines AI denoising, tone mapping, and parallel computing to produce clean and detailed photos while using less power.

Video quality is another strong point. All cameras, including the selfie camera, can record 4K 60fps in Dolby Vision HDR, while the main camera even supports 4K 120fps for ultra-smooth slow motion. For creators, there is Pro Video Mode with LOG recording and ACES certification, giving full control for post-production editing.

The Hasselblad Portrait Mode also deserves praise. It lets you choose any focal length between 1x and 3.4x, creating cinematic bokeh and natural skin tones even under mixed lighting. Meanwhile, the CCD Effect and Film Simulation add a touch of nostalgia with vintage flash looks and six film-style profiles.

One feature that impresses me the most is the Hasselblad XPAN Mode. It captures wide 65:24 panoramic photos inspired by the original Hasselblad XPAN film camera, giving your shots that cinematic, letterbox-style look. OPPO also added a smooth “film development” animation each time you take a photo, which makes the shooting experience feel authentic. You can even merge multiple XPAN photos together into a single panoramic image for a dramatic storytelling effect.

Overall, I would say the Find X9’s camera system feels more polished and intuitive than ever. You don’t have to be a pro to get great results. Whether it’s quick snaps of food, travel, or night scenes, the Find X9 consistently delivers photos that look good straight out of the gallery.

Performance

Powering the Find X9 is the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chipset built on TSMC’s 3nm process. It is paired with up to 16GB RAM and 512GB storage using LPDDR5X and UFS 4.1, so speed is never a concern.

The CPU is 32% faster and 55% more efficient than before, while the new Arm G1-Ultra GPU boosts gaming performance by 33%. The 9th-gen MediaTek NPU 990 also improves AI processing speed by more than 100%, which helps boost image processing and smart features.

To manage all that power, OPPO redesigned the cooling system with a larger vapor chamber and a new 0.02mm stainless steel mesh structure, covering key components to prevent overheating even during long 4K recording or gaming sessions.

The OPPO Trinity Engine further optimises performance by managing power distribution intelligently, ensuring smooth frame rates while saving battery. Meanwhile, AI LinkBoost and OPPO’s custom RF chip help keep connections stable in weak-signal areas, whether you’re in an elevator or gaming on the go.

Battery

Battery life is another strong point. The Find X9 packs a huge 7025mAh third-gen silicon-carbon battery that can easily last up to two days with regular use. Despite the larger battery, the phone remains slim and light.

The third-generation silicon-carbon battery is designed for long-term durability. It can retain up to 80% of its capacity after five years of daily use, which is a major advantage for users who plan to keep their phones longer.

Charging is equally impressive. It supports 80W SUPERVOOC wired charging, 50W AIRVOOC wireless charging, and 10W reverse wireless charging. You can even use compatible third-party PD chargers to get up to 55W fast charging.

Game Test

I did a one-hour session of Honor of Kings using the Pro Gamer Mode with Hyper Frame Rate and High Resolution turned on in OPPO’s Game Assistant. The in-game settings were all maxed out with Max FPS, Ultra Resolution, and Ultimate Graphics.

Throughout the session, the Find X9 maintained smooth and consistent gameplay at 120 FPS, with no visible frame drops or overheating. Battery consumption during this one-hour session was around 13%, which is quite efficient considering the performance level. The temperature remained comfortable to hold, thanks to OPPO’s large vapor chamber cooling system.

For charging, it’s a bit of a mixed feeling as it took 74 minutes to charge from 2% to 100% even with smart rapid charging on. A more detailed breakdown: it took 5 minutes to reach 11.58%, 10 minutes to 19.54%, 20 minutes to 35.57%, and 30 minutes to 51.55%. I wouldn’t say it’s fast, but I think it's acceptable if it’s to protect the battery. Throughout my trip in Penang, the phone could easily last a full day of usage even with all the photo and video taking, gaming, and editing, so an hour of downtime won’t be too much of a hassle as long as you get enough juice before you start the day.

ColorOS 16

ColorOS 16 makes its debut with the Find X9 series, and it comes packed with plenty of updates across the board. But among all the new features, there are two that really stood out to me, particularly AI Writer and AI Mind Space.

Let’s start with AI Writer. It’s built for productivity, and while generating content from prompts isn’t something entirely new, what impressed me most is how it handles post-writing tasks for social media and product reviews. It can actually analyse your photos and come up with caption ideas that match the visuals. Of course, it doesn’t always read your mind perfectly, but even when it’s not exactly what you want, you can easily tweak it by giving your own prompt. For people like me who constantly update social media, this saves a lot of time and creative energy.

Another feature I really appreciate is its mind map generation. When you have a long piece of text or notes, AI Writer can automatically convert it into a clear, structured mind map. This makes everything easier to digest and helps you see your ideas at a glance instead of scrolling through paragraphs. It’s genuinely useful for organizing reviews, content plans, or even brainstorming sessions.

Then there’s AI Mind Space, which we mentioned earlier with the Snap Key shortcut. It’s designed to effortlessly manage scattered information in your daily life. You can capture almost anything, like interesting posts you come across on social media — you can simply click and screenshot it. Sometimes when random thoughts and ideas hit, you can just long press to record them down. Everything you store is intelligently summarised, sorted, and tagged automatically, making it much easier to revisit later.

The best part is that AI Mind Space works hand in hand with Google Gemini. For example, if you’ve saved a bunch of travel spots and food places in Mind Space while planning a future trip, you can later ask Gemini to create a full itinerary based on what you’ve saved. This integration saves a lot of time because you don’t have to manually dig through your notes or photo albums anymore.

There’s still a lot to mention, and overall, ColorOS 16 feels like a big step forward in terms of smart convenience. It’s not just about fancy AI tools for the sake of it. These features genuinely make everyday usage more efficient, whether you’re working, planning, or just keeping your ideas organised.

Verdict

The OPPO Find X9 is a well-balanced flagship that focuses on real improvements instead of gimmicks. The Titanium Grey finish feels refined, the display is bright and comfortable, and the new camera system is a major highlight. The large battery and fast charging options make it reliable for everyday use, while the new AI tools in ColorOS 16 actually add real value instead of being gimmicks.

If you want a flagship phone that looks elegant, performs smoothly, and delivers excellent camera quality without unnecessary complexity, the OPPO Find X9 is one of the best all-round options available in 2025.