Every time a new flagship comes out, there’s a slew of reviews saying ‘this is the best ever’ before saying the same thing about the next flagship phone that launches. This time, I’m telling you the Oppo Find X9 Pro is missing one critical ingredient to take the crown away from Samsung.

The only thing ‘wrong’ with the Oppo Find X9 Pro is that it’s not officially on sale in the USA. While the Europeans are enjoying the incredible battery life, camera chops, and refined software experience, Americans are missing out. Big time.

Design

When you think that the Find X9 Pro has a mammoth 7,500mAh battery under the hood, the handset is surprisingly comfortable to hold. It’s not ‘heavy’, despite it weighing 224 grams. Sure, it’s not exactly dainty, but the rounded corners help the phone sit comfortably in the hand.

As for bezels, what bezels? Of course, there are bezels, but they are minuscule in size at just 1.15mm, giving you an edge-to-edge viewing experience. It all helps make the Find X9 Pro surprisingly comfortable to hold.

Despite the now customary camera housing that protrudes a bit, the phone slips in and out of my front trouser pocket with ease, without snagging.

By now, you’ve probably seen that, besides the usual volume and power controls, as well as the touch-sensitive camera button, there is an additional control present. This is the new Snap key, which can be customized to launch apps such as Mind Space, the camera, voice recorder, or translator. You can even use it to switch the torch on and off. The choice is yours. This Snap key sits on the left edge of the phone, roughly in line with the volume control.

Hardware

Display

With a display just under 6.8-inches in size, the Find X9 Pro has plenty of real estate. There’s an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, up to 3600 nits of peak brightness, and the ability to drop as low as a single nit. It’s a splendid display, vibrant, clear, and responsive. Outdoor performance is excellent, and for those with sensitive eyes, PWM 2160PWM is also present. Some might quibble at the FHD+ resolution, but the display hits the sweet spot for me in terms of pixels-per-inch and clarity.

Performance

While not touted as a ‘gaming’ smartphone, the Find X9 Pro is certainly capable of running Call of Duty Mobile without a hitch, with the bonus that the chipset doesn’t burn your fingers. MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500 seems to be the sweet spot between monstrous performance and staying cool under pressure.

Facial recognition and the fingerprint sensor work really smoothly and accurately. Unlocking the phone is a slick process that doesn’t take much concentration, with very few misreads.

Battery

With a 7,500mAh battery, you might expect that the Find X9 Pro will run forever and ever. Well, no, but it sure feels like it does. If you suffer from battery anxiety, the Find X9 Pro, with its gargantuan battery and speedy charging (both wired and wireless), will ease that angst in the first couple of days.

Software

I’m a big fan of ColorOS, and version 16 of Oppo’s software overlay has added notable features and is smoother than ever. Plus, there are plenty of new features with additional AI smarts built in. It’s more refined, smoother, and more intuitive. System apps have been tweaked and now look modern, and you can even connect your Find X9 Pro to your MacBook and experience fluid connectivity.

One new feature that I like is the addition of a categories tab in the app drawer. As you might expect, it will group apps by type, such as Entertainment, Social, Photography, etc. It works well and helps when you are looking for a specific app whose icon has suddenly changed, or when you forget what it’s called.

In addition to the Big Folder option on the home screen, you can expand individual app icons to show quick actions. This means you can expand the camera app icon to show options such as Portrait Mode or perhaps the XPAN mode. It’s a handy new feature that can shave a second or two off the time it takes to open the camera to the required mode.

The Lock Screen has also received some love in the form of ‘AI Flux Themes’ that add new clock styles with depth effects. This also works when using your personal photos. It’s neat and helps make the Find X9 Pro uniquely yours.

Oppo has included its AI-driven Mind Space, which lets users capture screen content, such as messages, website pages, voice memos, images, and app screens, using the Snap key or a three-finger swipe. The AI then creates calendar events and reminders, and can fetch and summarize content if required.

While the update policy isn’t on par with Samsung’s or Google’s, it’s still very acceptable with five years of software support and 6 years of security updates. Basically, you can expect the Find X9 Pro to get Android 21.

Camera

The cameras are excellent. Superb even. With the Find X9 Pro, taking a snapshot of the memory is as reliable as a metronome. Whichever camera lens you choose. It’s a truly versatile bit of kit. You’ll enjoy the level of detail and vibrancy in the images, whether in ideal or low-light conditions.

This time around, the camera app includes the Hasselblad Hi-Res mode, which lets you capture full-resolution imagery. While there is a ‘Pro’ mode, you’ll rarely need to reach for it as the standard image capture is that good.

The telephoto lens is smooth, and with its 3x optical zoom and up to 18x digital zoom, the resulting images are crisp and clear. Sure, if you buy the add-on TeleConverter Lens, you can take photos at up to 120x, but the added inconvenience of attaching the case, the adaptor, and then the lens is a pain. The adaptor also has the unfortunate by-product of blocking the other cameras. You’ll also need to remove the TeleConverter lens when you are done.

It’s perhaps worthwhile to use the add-on lens when the phone is mounted on a tripod and used for a specific purpose, as it’s a tad unwieldy for impromptu shots.

Verdict

I get my hands on a bunch of phones every year, and usually fall in love with one of them. This year? It’s the Oppo Find X9 Pro. The combination of MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500 chipset, which remains cool under pressure, the reliable cameras that produce stunning images, day or night, and the incredible battery life makes this a splendid, well-rounded flagship smartphone.

And the price? At £1,099 (~$1,462), the Find X9 Pro is cheaper than Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra, while offering more for users in terms of cameras, battery, charging, and, in my opinion, design.

If it’s true flagship performance, long-lasting battery life, and superb cameras you’re looking for, Oppo’s Find X9 Pro is the phone to get if it’s available in your region.