OPPO Find X9 review – Maybe better value than the Find X9 Pro?

With the launch of the OPPO Find X9 and OPPO Find X9 Pro at the end of October, OPPO has become the first brand to launch a next-generation flagship in Malaysia. Not only do they offer incredibly fast performance as 2025/2026 flagship phones, but they also feature Hasselblad-tuned cameras promising very high image quality.

You may be wondering whether the Find X9 (RM3,699) or the Find X9 Pro (RM4,999) is the better deal, due to the significant price gap between the two variants. Well, let’s assess the Find X9 to see if it’s better.

 

Design – Much different from the Find X8, similar to the Reno series

At first glance, the Find X9 has a distinctly different exterior design from the OPPO Find X8 from last year. Looking at the camera bump, the Find X9 has a square shape similar to the OPPO Reno15 series, rather than the round shape found on the Find X8.

However, the lens arrangement isn’t completely identical to that of the Reno series. The Find X9’s camera bump houses three lenses, two of which are within a large black circle. Its other lens is placed next to it in an elongated circular shape. A Hasselblad logo is clearly displayed to indicate the use of Hasselblad technology.

The back of the Find X9

Square-shaped camera hump

OPPO logo that is not too prominent

This time around, OPPO Malaysia sent us a Titanium Grey variant of the phone. It has a neat matte finish that looks premium and won’t leave any fingerprints. Of course, OPPO fans can also go for the classic Space Black colour or the more vivid Velvet Red colour.

The OPPO logo is engraved on the bottom, but it’s not very obvious at first glance. It blends well with the cover, but becomes more apparent when you tilt the phone. Personally, I prefer this type of subtle, low-profile design.

In the hand, the phone feels similar to the Find X8. It has flat aerospace-grade aluminium sides, which should please those who dislike curved sides. However, it’s worth noting that the surface of this phone lacks the shine or gloss that has been synonymous with some flagship phones in recent years, so your mileage may vary.

The right side of the phone has the standard power and volume buttons, but there’s something new on the left side. This “Snap Key” is a special button that provides quick access to various functions you need, such as the camera, voice recorder, translator, AI Mind Space and more. Think of it as a customisable button to access your favourite features or apps.

Right: Volume and power buttons as usual, but no dedicated camera button like the Find X9 Pro

Left: Houses the new Snap Key

For protection, it has an IP66/68/69 water and dust resistance rating, so you don’t have to worry if it gets splashed or dropped in water. Thanks to Corning Gorilla Glass 7i, the screen is also highly scratch-resistant. However, it doesn’t use the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 usually found on flagship phones.

 

Tech specs and features – The first Dimensity 9500 in Malaysia

Below are the full specifications for the OPPO Find X9:

• MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chipset (3nm)
• 6.59-inch AMOLED screen, 2760×1256 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 3,600 nits peak brightness
• 16GB LPDDR5X RAM
• UFS4.1 512GB internal storage
• 50MP main camera (Sony LYT-808, f/1.6) + 50MP ultra-wide camera with auto-focus and macro mode + 50MP telephoto camera (Sony LYT-600)
• 32MP front camera
• 7025mAh battery
• 80W SUPERVOOC fast charging, 50W AIRVOOC wireless charging, 10W reverse wireless charging
• Android 15 operating system with ColorOS 16
• Dual-SIM support, NFC, Bluetooth 6.0, Wi-Fi 7, AI LinkBoost with built-in RF chip
• Available in Space Black, Titanium Grey, Velvet Red
• Price: RM3,699

The Find X9 series is the first of the latest generation of flagship phones in Malaysia. It’s equipped with MediaTek’s latest 3nm flagship Dimensity 9500 and is the first phone in Malaysia with this chipset. It offers a significant performance boost over its predecessor and aims to compete with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. We’ll discuss whether it succeeds in that further below.

On the front, the OPPO Find X9 has a 6.59-inch AMOLED screen with a fairly high max resolution. It outputs clear images, bright colours, and a 120Hz refresh rate for smoother visuals. It also has Dolby Vision and HDR10+ to enhance your visual experience in movies or videos. Overall, the display’s quality is what you’d expect from a flagship phone in 2025/2026.

You can enjoy a great visual experience on the OPPO Find X9 screen

However, the screen’s 3600 nits peak brightness is lower than that of other flagship phones. It’s still easily visible under bright sunlight, but it may not be as bright as other flagship phones, such as the HONOR Magic7 Pro with its 5000 nits screen.

As for the battery, the Find X9’s 7025mAh battery is significantly larger than the Find X8’s 5630mAh battery. However, it still maintains the same 80W wired fast charging, 50W wireless charging, and 10W reverse wireless charging. For those who don’t have a fast charger at home, we’re happy to confirm that OPPO has included an 80W charger in the Find X9 box.

Another aspect that hasn’t changed much is the camera specifications. Like its predecessor, the Find X9 still uses a 50MP main camera, a 50MP periscope telephoto camera, and a 50MP ultra-wide camera. On the front, it has a 32MP front camera. Of course, OPPO continues to rely on image tuning by Hasselblad. Overall, photo quality remains excellent, so we have no complaints there.

For the operating system, the Find X9 uses ColorOS 16, which is based on Android 16. During our testing of the phone, we found the UI decently smooth and easy to use. It shouldn’t feel hard to get used to, even if you are coming from another Android phone brand. In fact, the default theme that comes with ColorOS 16 looks great.

Screenshot of the lockscreen and UI

One interesting feature is that it now supports file transfer with Apple iOS devices. Its Touch to Share function lets you quickly transfer files to an iPhone by bringing the Find X9 close. Yes, it basically works like the iPhone’s AirDrop function. However, it’s specifically designed to transfer files between OPPO and Apple devices.

So, what’s the difference between the Find X9 and the Find X9 Pro? The two models actually have a lot in common except for three aspects: the screen, battery capacity, and telephoto camera. The Find X9 Pro has a larger 6.78-inch screen and a 7500mAh battery.

On the camera side, the main difference is that the Find X9 Pro has a 200MP periscope telephoto camera. In other words, the Find X9’s 50MP periscope telephoto camera doesn’t offer the same optical zoom range and level of detail as the Find X9 Pro. If you want the phone with better zoom capabilities, you might want to consider the Find X9 Pro.

 

Performance – Very fast, the camera is insanely beautiful

Below are the benchmark scores we ran in Geekbench and 3DMark:

CPU performance compared to the 2023 Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

Performance drops over time during the 20-minute stress test, meaning it has thermal throttling issues

Without a doubt, the Dimensity 9500 chipset is capable of beating last year’s flagship chipsets, such as the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite. The 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM allows apps to operate smoothly, while its 512GB UFS 4.1 storage is more than enough for most users. However, we didn’t feel a significant performance difference between the Dimensity 9500 and Dimensity 9400.

We ran Wuthering Waves to test the phone’s performance. This is a good test option in 2025, as the game has very high CPU and GPU requirements for mobile devices. Although we could play the game on high graphics settings without any noticeable issues, there were occasional frame rate drops, which proves that the performance isn’t stable over longer sessions.

One problem we noticed was how the phone quickly grew hot while we were playing Wuthering Waves. Phones becoming hot when gaming is normal, as modern games are the most demanding apps around. However, the Find X9 becomes warm faster than most flagships. This is probably not a phone you want to game on, as the heat could affect the long-term health of the battery.

Wuthering Waves is playable with high graphics, but don’t expect consistent frame rates

You can activate Bypass Charging to direct electrical current to the chipset

Fortunately, if you want to play games while charging, the Find X9 supports Bypass Charging. This allows you to power the phone’s processor without charging the battery, which should help protect the battery’s health. The Find X9 is not intended to be a gaming phone, so this may not be an issue for most users. But at least you have the option to enjoy your favourite games on high-graphics settings. Of course, you can also lower graphical settings in games to reduce the load on the chipset, thus avoiding excessive heat generation.

Speaking of battery, the Find X9’s 7025mAh battery is excellent as it can comfortably last a full day. Even after a day of heavy Google Maps use, mobile gaming, and enabling wireless hotspot, it still had about 30% left at the end of the day. We didn’t get to try the power-saving mode, but it should help the phone last up to two days.

As mentioned, this phone supports 80W wired charging, which translates to a full battery in about an hour. It also supports 50W wireless charging. However, we can’t tell you how fast it can charge without a 50W wireless charger (which isn’t included).

80W charger included in the OPPO Find X9 box

Moving on, let’s talk about the cameras. We were there during the OPPO Find X9 series launch in Penang and took plenty of photos using the Find X9 at the launch venue. Overall, the captured photos impressed us with sharp detail in most situations. Even in low-light conditions, you can snap photos with very little noise.

The Find X9’s cameras have good light control, a fairly high dynamic range, and deliver natural-looking colours. What impressed us most was the excellent zoom performance, even if it was only up to 50x zoom. In theory, the phone can zoom up to 120x. But honestly, it’s not an option you would want to use often. Although its AI processing can enhance detail in captured zoom photos, the results tend to look more than a little fake.

For portrait mode photos, the Find X9’s camera does well in separating the background and subject. This is thanks to its excellent edge detection, which prevents portrait photos from having subjects with blurred edges.

As for videos, the Find X9 can record videos at up to 4K 120fps. That means you can record slow-motion videos with very high detail. We tested this by recording some slow-motion videos in 4K, and were very impressed with the results. It’s hard to believe that videos like this were taken using just a phone. The stabilisation also works well, so you can record clear videos even if you’re holding it in your hand.

 

 

Conclusion – More worthwhile than the Pro

If you are planning to get a new 2025/2026 flagship phone, the OPPO Find X9 could be one of the most attractive packages available. For RM3699, you can enjoy all the flagship-class features and hardware, such as the fast performance provided by the Dimensity 9500 chipset, 80W fast charging and most importantly, the incredible Hasselblad camera quality.

In our opinion, the Find X9 offers greater value than the RM4999 Find X9 Pro. The only significant advantage the Pro variant has is its 200MP telephoto camera’s ability to take clearer zoom photos. So, if that’s not something you prioritise, just go for the standard Find X9.

Currently, there are not many alternatives that are on par with the Find X9, as it’s the first 2025/2026 flagship phone to be launched in Malaysia. If you still want the Hasselblad camera, the closest option is last year’s OPPO Find X8 (RM3399). You can also go for the Samsung Galaxy S25 (RM3399), which has several AI functions, or the vivo X200 (RM3299) if you want Zeiss camera technology.

 

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