Oppo, why, why?
I adored the Oppo Find X3 Pro in 2021 and was as smitten by the Find X5 Pro in 2022, two phones that raised the standard for design, performance, and camera quality on Android phones.
They were widely accessible handsets that I would gladly endorse alongside Samsung or Google. However, the Oppo Find X6 Pro is only officially accessible in China, making it impossible to suggest it to anybody in the United States or Europe.
That’s particularly disappointing given that the phone boasts one of the greatest smartphone cameras I’ve ever used. It doesn’t come with the Google Play Store, immediately labeling it as an enthusiast’s curiosity in the West.
Design & build
- Bulky design
- Huge camera module
- Matt glass or vegan leather
The Find X6 Pro departs from the Find X3 Pro and Find X5 Pro in terms of appearance, no longer sporting the gleaming silver metal of those two phones.
My review unit was made of green matt glass, which was both appealing and Gorilla Glass 5 reinforced, but also quite slippery. Fortunately, there was a high-quality plastic case with a vegan leather coating in the box. There is also a black variant, and both are 9.1mm thick.
I prefer the alternative Find X6 Pro option’s two-tone silver and brown vegan leather look to the one I tested, which is reminiscent of vintage cameras. This variant has a thickness of 9.6mm. All three variants are dust and water resistant to IP68 standards.
If it wasn’t evident, Oppo surrounded the phone’s key feature with a massive spherical module on the back that includes three sensors, some of which are glass and some of which are textured. I don’t hate the design, and it’s a good thing it’s central since it keeps the phone from rocking when used flat on a table, but it’s large and makes the device top-heavy in the hand.
The camera is boldly branded with ‘Hasselblad’ and ‘Powered by MariSilicon’ on the back, but the rest of the design is surprisingly modest for Oppo, with a discreet logo and simple glossy green rails along the phone’s sides.
It’s very heavy at 218g, although it’s significantly lighter than the 240g iPhone 14 Pro Max. The haptics of the Find X6 Pro are likewise great, with tightly clipped vibrations that don’t rattle noisily across the system.
The under-display fingerprint scanner also works nicely, and 2D face unlock is available via the center selfie camera cut-out.
At 218g it’s quite heavy but notably lighter than the 240g iPhone 14 Pro Max
Screen & speakers
- Great 6.82in 120Hz AMOLED
- Energy-saving LTPO tech
- Loud dual stereo speakers
With a pin-sharp 1440 x 3168p resolution 6.82in AMOLED panel that refreshes seamlessly at 120Hz, the Find X6 Pro features one of the best-looking smartphone displays available.
It looks and feels like a premium screen, thanks to LTPO technology that dynamically refreshes the screen to save energy despite the high-end specifications. Apps and images look fantastic, and you can modify the color palettes and quality with granular settings.
It has a little curved edge, which I enjoy on phones since it makes the larger ones feel thinner in your hand. With a peak brightness of 2,500 nits, Oppo says it has the brightest smartphone screen. I’m tempted to believe it, given how brilliant the thing is at 100%.
The great screen is complemented by powerful dual stereo speakers. Surprisingly, blaring music out of these at over 50% level isn’t completely bad, and they’re wonderful for video chats and podcasts.
Oppo claims it’s the brightest screen on a smartphone with a peak brightness of 2,500 nits. I’m inclined to believe it
Specs & performance
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset
- 12/16GB RAM
- 256/512GB storage
The Find X6 Pro comes standard with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage, but there’s also a 16/256GB version, which I reviewed, and a 16/512GB version.
This is supported by the fantastic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset across the board, which is a wonderfully powerful chipset with remarkable energy efficiency.
These specifications, together with the software, make the Find X6 Pro a joy to use.
Oppo Find X6 Pro benchmarks
Everything worked and loaded flawlessly, and even high-end mobile games had no problem.
You also get real twin SIM slots, USB-C 3.1, and a less-visible infrared remote control for, presumably, cranking up the volume on the TV at your local bar.
Connectivity options include 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, and NFC for mobile payments. Despite the lack of local Google services, I was able to use Google Wallet with my Mastercard debit card in the UK.
Camera & video
- Amazing 1in main sensor
- Ultra-wide and periscope telephoto
- Oppo’s own imaging chip
This entire section should be a giant chef’s kiss GIF (but my editor wouldn’t let me).
The primary camera sensor on the Find X6 Pro is hands down the greatest I’ve ever used on a phone. Because of its enormous 1in sensor size, I’ve shot images that I couldn’t have taken on any other phone – save perhaps the Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Vivo X90 Pro, which both have the same sensor.
It wasn’t even necessary for me to be a photographer. The phone performs all the work for you, combining outstanding hardware with image processing from Oppo’s embedded neural processing unit (NPU), which optimizes the photographs.
The Find X6 Pro’s main camera sensor is the best I’ve ever used on a phone, hands down
This f/1.8 Sony IMX989 1in sensor is 156% bigger than the primary camera of the Find X5 Pro and is unparalleled for a phone camera sensor. The amount of light it can let in has been raised by 142%, allowing it to create a scene with more accurate and fine details, colors, and dynamic range.
I’ll let the following speak for itself:
After capturing images, the MariSilicon NPU works its magic, processing them to almost too-good quality. The rivalry from Xiaomi and Vivo is very strong, making it difficult to select a winner. When seeing them all through the phone’s fantastic screen, admiring the Oppo’s quality helps.
The camera provides a natural bokeh (blur) effect using a larger-than-usual 1in sensor, but other phones must replicate the effect with software – which is why phones have portrait options in the camera app. The Find X6 Pro doesn’t require much software assistance to capture stunning, natural bokeh pictures in standard Photo mode:
Portrait mode at 1x and 2x utilises the primary sensor as well. Oppo uses software with Hasselblad branding from its camera-maker collaboration, including displaying pop-ups that describe how the sensors imitate actual camera lenses, though the 3x zoom function shifts to the telephoto lens.
To be honest, I’d be content if this phone simply came with a single lens. Oppo, on the other hand, treats you with two supporting lenses, both of which employ the identical Sony IMX890 50Mp sensor – one ultrawide and one periscope telephoto.
With an f/2.2 aperture, the ultrawide catches a great amount of detail and is one of the best examples available:
Battery life & charging
- Incredibly fast 100W wired charging
- 50W wireless
- 5000mAh battery
Another feather in the Find X6 Pro’s cap is its massive 5000mAh battery and incredibly rapid 100W wired charging through the charging brick and cable provided.
I charged the phone from 0% to 56% in 15 minutes then from 0% to 97% in 30. In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can only reach 43% in 30 minutes at a maximum of 45W and does not have a charger.
The battery life is excellent. I got more than a day and a half out of the phone when I used it extensively, and PC Mark’s battery test resulted at a remarkable 16 hours and 43 minutes. It’s fantastic to have a phone that has a long battery life and charges quickly.
You can also charge the Find X6 Pro wirelessly at 50W using an Oppo AirVooc charger, or at a slower rate using any Qi charging pad. When you flip the phone over, you can use reverse wireless charging to charge Qi compatible earphones and other devices, including phones.
According to Oppo, the battery will retain up to 80% of its original capacity even after four years of typical use and quick charging. I can’t confirm this, but it’s exciting to hear considering how quickly smartphone batteries degrade over time.
Software & features
- Color OS 13.1 based on Android 13
- No Google services out the box
- Chinese software hard to budge
If you reside in China, the software on the Oppo Find X6 Pro is exactly what you’d expect.
However, if you reside outside of China, the software on the Find X6 Pro is enough different to constitute its Achilles’ heel and the primary reason not to purchase the phone. It’s so embedded in Chinese Android practices that Western purchasers will be annoyed or hampered.
There is no Google Play Store available out of the box. It is feasible to install Google Chrome, as well as system-level support for Google services, although it took me two tries, including a factory reset halfway through, by installing Google Chrome from Oppo’s App Market app store, then downloading an APK for the Play Store.
If you want Google applications and services but don’t know what an APK is, this phone is not for you.
Things did work regularly in my three weeks with the Find X6 Pro. I was able to get all Google apps to operate, and every program I installed from the Play Store worked well.
It’s more that the system is littered with Chinese characters and pop-ups in unexpected places, relics of a phone that was never intended to be used outside of China.
System apps appear in Chinese, despite the fact that you would expect them to operate in English. Screensavers show Chinese news, landscapes, and advertisements. ColorOS widgets are unintelligible.
It’s a pity, because ColorOS 13.1 atop Android 13 looks fantastic and is delightfully whimsical, similar to Google’s Pixel software. In this case, though, the OnePlus 11 provides a significantly superior experience for a Western user.
I tried my hardest to limit the phone to only Western and Google services, and it succeeded. However, I was irritated by how frequently the phone switched to Chinese when I wasn’t expecting it, and I wouldn’t want this experience for the asking price.
While Google applications and services work well on the X6 Pro for the time being, there is no assurance that they will continue to work in the future since you must sideload them in the first place.
Price & availability
The Oppo Find X6 Pro is only available in China and costs ¥5,999 for the 12GB/256GB model, which is about $830/£650 at the time of writing.
The 16/256GB model is ¥6,499 ($900/£700) while the 16/512GB model is ¥6,999 ($970/£760).
You can buy it direct from Oppo China.
The phone is not officially for sale in the US or UK, or any other country other than China for that matter. If you want to import it we suggest trying trusted consumer technology exporters such as Giztop, but you might find the prices are higher than the converted Chinese retail price.
Specs
- Android 13 with ColorOS 13.1
- 6.82in 1440 x 3168 120Hz LTPO AMOLED
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
- 12/16GB LPDDR5X RAM
- 256/512GB UFS 4.0 storage
- Cameras:
- 50Mp f/1.8 1in main sensor, Sony IMX989
- 50Mp f/2.6 3x periscope telephoto optical zoom, Sony IMX890
- 50Mp f/2.2 ultra-wide sensor, Sony IMX890
- 32Mp f/2.4 front facing camera, Sony IMX709
- In-screen fingerprint scanner
- 2D face recognition
- Wi-Fi 7/6/5
- Bluetooth 5.3
- GPS
- NFC
- 5G
- 4G LTE
- IP68
- USB-C
- 5,000mAh non-removable battery
- 100W wired charging
- Up to 50W wireless charging
- Glass model: 164.8mm × 76.2mm × 9.1mm
- Vegan leather model: 164.8mm × 76.3mm × 9.5mm
- 218g/216g
