Oppo launches ambitious £1449 Find X9 Ultra

Chinese brand OPPO has officially launched its most ambitious smartphone to date, the Find X9 Ultra, positioning the device as a professional-grade camera that happens to do other stuff, such as make phone calls and send texts.

With a global release scheduled for May 8, the flagship model marks a significant strategic pivot for the brand, targeting the ultra-premium market with a steep retail price of £1,449.

Compact camera in smartphone form

The Find X9 Ultra’s identity is centred entirely around its “New-Generation Hasselblad Master Camera System.” In a move designed to appeal to photography enthusiasts, the device breaks mobile records with the world’s first 50MP 10x optical telephoto lens.

To fit a lens of this magnitude into a slim chassis, OPPO developed a “Quintuple Prism” periscope structure that folds the light path five times – effectively shrinking the physical module by 30% without sacrificing focal length.

The rear of the device is dominated by a massive “Master Lens” module housing five custom-engineered cameras. Key highlights include:

• Dual 200MP Sensors: A primary main camera using Sony’s new LYTIA 901 sensor and a secondary 3x telephoto lens.

• Massive Zoom Range: The combination of high-resolution sensors and optical glass allows for high-quality framing, ranging from 14mm ultra-wide to a staggering 460mm equivalent.

• Pro Video: The device supports 8K recording at 30fps and 4K at 120fps, featuring “O-Log2” for professional colour grading workflows.

High-end pricing to match hardware

At £1,449, the Find X9 Ultra is one of the most expensive non-folding phones on the market, rivalling the top-tier configurations of the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S-series. OPPO justifies this ‘pro-sumer’ price tag through an impressive spec sheet, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 platform and a 7,050mAh silicon-carbon battery – one of the largest ever seen in a flagship, it claims.

The design further leans into the camera aesthetic, featuring a vegan leather back inspired by the Hasselblad X2D and a tactile “Explorer Kit” accessory ecosystem that adds a physical shutter button and zoom dial.

For the professional price, buyers also receive a 6.82-inch AMOLED display capable of 3,600 nits of peak brightness and a robust “Armor Shield” build that carries IP69 water and dust resistance. As an added incentive for the AI-curious, the device comes with a three-month subscription to Google AI Pro, offering 5TB of cloud storage and advanced Gemini features.