OPPO Find X8 Ultra review: the flagship we want, but won’t get

Name: OPPO Find X8 Ultra
Item: OPPO Find X8 Ultra
Rating: 8.5
Author: Deepak Dhingra

Published On: 9 May, 2025

Review Summary

Expert Rating
8.5/10

OPPO’s flagship Find series smartphones used to be quite hard to find in India, but that changed last year when the brand decided to launch the Find X8 series here. Just a few months later though, the brand has found another device to tease us with… a new smartphone that comes as the most loaded flagship from OPPO to become its newest showstopper. I’m referring to the Find X8 Ultra, which recently went official in China, but sadly, isn’t making its way to our shores. Unsurprisingly, the mainstay of the phone is its camera prowess, but it ticks pretty much all the boxes you can think of for a premium flagship smartphone that boasts ‘Ultra’ in its moniker.

I did get to try out the new phone, and here’s how my experience went.

Table of Contents

Verdict

One of its key negatives is that the Find X8 Ultra isn’t available in India officially, but the smartphone does work as a good muscle flex for OPPO, showcasing its strengths in crafting a premium flagship that delivers on most counts. The main highlights of the phone are its capable camera system, smooth performance, good battery life and a build that instils confidence.

Design and display

Possibly the most prominent design element on the Find X8 Ultra’s chassis is the large, circular camera module that sits on the back and occupies almost half the available space. Other than that, the other thing that stands out is the fact that the rest of the phone’s body is quite slim. Its 8.8mm body is said to be the thinnest among ‘ultra’ camera phones, and despite being so slim, hides a 6,100mAh battery. Tipping the scales at 226g, the X8 Ultra isn’t exactly featherweight, but not too heavy either. The fit and finish are top notch, befitting a premium flagship. And most notably, the phone boasts IP68 and IP69 certifications, which add immensely to the peace of mind while using the device. During my time with the Find X8 Ultra, I took it with me to a short trip to Thailand, and its IP69 rating gave me the confidence to not only take the phone into the pool with me to try out its underwater photography mode, but also use it unhindered on the beach and in seawater too.

On the left spine, the alert slider is gone, and in its place sits a new shortcut button… not very different from the action button on the iPhones. This can be customised via settings to access ring modes, DND, camera, torch, recorder, translator, or capture a screenshot. Only the long press action is supported though – a short press or a double press doesn’t do anything. On the right spine sits the Quick Button. This is a flat control that sits flush with the chassis, and originally made its debut on the Find X8 Pro. Serving as a camera control key, it launches the camera with a double press, and one can also slide their finger across to control zoom, exposure etc… again quite similar to the Camera Control present on the latest iPhones.

The flat display up front measures 6.82-inches and offers a resolution of 3,168 x 1,440 (QHD+) pixels. The LTPO AMOLED panel can vary its refresh rate dynamically between 1 and 120Hz, supports Dolby Vision, 2,160Hz PWM dimming, and can go up to 2500 nits in terms of brightness. Needless to say, it’s a gorgeous display, and delivers nice visuals.

Cameras

Boasting what OPPO is calling the “Next-gen Penta Camera System”, the Find X8 Ultra offers impressive camera specs and significant upgrades as compared to the predecessor. There’s a 50MP main camera (utilising Sony’s LYT-900 1-inch sensor), a 50MP ultra wide, a 50MP 3x telephoto, a 50MP 6x telephoto, and a True Chroma camera. The 3x sensor handles telemacro, while the True Chroma Camera’s job is to divide the image into a 6 x 8 grid and adjust white balance for each section separately. The latter promises to preserve white balance more accurately, especially for scenes with contrasting cool and warm tones.

Also on board is a new image processing engine called Lumo. It promises enhanced clarity, colour accuracy and focusing speed, along with pristine portraits with natural skin tones and lifelike details. As phone cameras go, suffice it to say that the Find X8 Ultra’s setup is as loaded as it gets, with both hardware and software aligned to deliver the best results. And that’s exactly what it does. The proof is in the pudding anyway, so here are a bunch of camera samples shot using the Find X8 Ultra.

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Software, performance and battery life

Since the firmware on my Find X8 Ultra unit is from its home turf and not specific to India, I’m not going to get into the software experience in detail. And at the time of testing, benchmarks were locked and refused to run, so I don’t have objective metrics to compare it with other premium flagships either. That said, the SoC is on board is Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and we already know how capable it is in the real world. The Find X8 Ultra refused to slow down or display any signs of stress during my usage, running productivity-based tasks or intensive games.

The 6,100mAh battery is another star of the show, delivering solid battery life even with heavy usage. It managed to last a full day even during my trip, when my usage was quite heavy, and comprised everything from streaming, gaming, GPS navigation and photography, apart from the usual stuff like email and messaging. What’s more, the 100W fast charging juices up the phone very quickly. There’s 50W wireless charging on board as well, though you’d likely require a proprietary wireless charger to juice up the phone at the maximum supported speed.

Final verdict

The Find X8 Ultra from OPPO isn’t without its flaws. The biggest point against it, however, is the fact that it’s not available in India officially. And that’s disappointing because it is one of the best Android phones money can buy. It offers great build quality, complete with an IP69 rating, smooth performance, good battery life, fast charging, a brilliant display and a top-notch camera experience. I couldn’t get the full software and AI experience, so that remains to be seen… but even without that, I can say that the Find X8 Ultra is a solid device. Maybe OPPO can consider bringing it to India officially… though I suspect that might just make its rivals sweat profusely.