The Oppo Find X9 Ultra looks like a Hasselblad compact camera – and it's finally going global

If you ever been wondering what it would look like if Hasselblad made a compact camera, then you're in luck, as Oppo has just officially launched the Find X9 Ultra, with looks inspired by the legendary Hasselblad X2D camera, and one of the most ambitious camera systems we have ever seen on a phone. Although, the best news – Oppo is finally taking its Ultra phone global.

Of course, every brand says its latest Ultra device is a “camera in your pocket”, but the Find X9 Ultra backs that up with a frankly ludicrous camera spec sheet with a total of five different cameras on the back covering 14-460mm with optical quality, and secondary sensors larger than you’d find as the main sensor in most mainstream flagships.

Starting with the big headline five-camera system that Oppo is calling its New-Generation Hasselblad Master Camera System. Designed in collaboration with Hasselblad, the hardware includes a 200MP main camera, a 200MP 3x telephoto, a 50MP ultra-wide, a dedicated multispectral True Color camera, and, most excitingly of all, a 50MP 10x optical telephoto.

Oppo’s made this possible with what it calls a Quintuple Prism Reflection Periscope Structure, which folds the light path five times in order to fit a 10x optical zoom lens into the camera bump roughly the same size as the previous generation. The company says this is the world’s first 50MP 10x optical telephoto, which pairs a 1/2.75-inch sensor with an f/3.5 aperture, alongside sensor-shift optical stabilization for keeping things steady at massive zoom ranges. Oppo also says the camera can use in-sensor cropping to achieve 20x (460mm-equivalent) optical-quality zoom, thanks to the high-resolution sensor, which should make this one of the best long-range zoom systems we have seen on a smartphone to date.

The main camera uses a 200MP Sony LYTIA 901 1/1.12-inch sensor with an f/1.5 aperture, which Oppo says delivers light intake comparable to the previous generation’s 1-inch main sensor. The camera has a native 23mm-equivalent focal length, but can also crop in to 2x without losing quality, doubling as a nifty-fifty. There is also Real-Time Triple Exposure support and its own HDR pipeline designed to maintain high dynamic range and compete with developments like the Xiaomi 17 Ultra’s LOFIC sensor tech, which I raved about in my review.

The 200MP 3x (70mm-equivalent) telephoto uses a large 1/1.28-inch sensor with a fast f/2.2 aperture and a 15cm minimum focus distance, letting it double as a telemacro camera. Oppo says this sensor can also crop to deliver 6x (139mm) shots with 50MP of native detail without leaning heavily on digital zoom.

And rounding out the system for cameras you can actually use is a 50MP ultra-wide camera with autofocus, a 1/1.95-inch sensor, and a fast f/2.0 aperture, which, according to Oppo, captures 56% more light than the previous generation.

Finally, the X9 Ultra debuts the second generation of Oppo’s True Color camera, which is a dedicated multispectral sensor designed to improve white balance and color accuracy across photos, motion photos, and, for the first time, video.

The X9 Ultra also comes with an updated version of Hasselblad Master Mode, which is designed to avoid the over-processed look that plagues a lot of smartphone photography, with Oppo promising a more natural rendering, less aggressive tone mapping, and absolutely no AI. It also supports 50MP JPEG MAX and 50MP RAW MAX across multiple focal lengths, along with nine film simulations and custom presets.

Video also gets a major push, with Find X9 Ultra supporting 4K 60fps Dolby Vision HDR recording across the zoom range from 0.6x to 30x, while the main and 3x telephoto cameras can also capture 4K 120fps and 8K 30fps video. There is a new O-Log2 profile, ACES support for professional color workflows, and even 3D LUT support with real-time preview and LUT burn-in. Oppo even made a dedicated video rig for the X9 Ultra with handles and a cooling fan – although, sadly, this is unlikely to make its way outside of China.

An accessory that is coming to global markets is the optional Hasselblad Earth Explorer Kit, including a compact camera-style Explorer Case finished to match the Hasselblad X2D styling of the X9 Ultra, with a two-stage shutter button for half-press focus, and a physical dial for smoother zoom control, and quick switching between modes, as well as an adapter ring to mount standard 67mm filters.

There is a brand new 300mm Explorer Teleconverter, a full-metal add-on lens designed to attach to the 3x telephoto camera and extend it to a 300mm equivalent focal length, which is around 13x optical zoom, or can go up to 600mm optical quality using in-sensor cropping. These telephoto adapters are popping up everywhere now, but having tested quite a few of them, I will say they are no gimmick.

Outside of the cameras, the Find X9 Ultra is every bit the expected flagship. It has a 6.82-inch 144Hz QHD+ AMOLED display, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, and a massive 7,050mAh silicon-carbon battery with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. It also arrives with the latest ColorOS 16, with improvements to silence the clutter on your lock screen and upcoming AirDrop support, and for durability, IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings.

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra will be available from May 8 in the UK, Europe, and most global markets with the exception of North America. As you’d expect from one of the most ambitious camera phones ever the price is at a premium. Although, starting at £1,449 for 12GB+512GB it's not a big a shock as I expected. The price of the Hasselblad Explorer kit with the telephoto lens is to be confirmed.

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