The Oppo Find X9 Pro is without doubt one of the most well-rounded telephones of the yr. It gives a flexible digicam system, highly effective efficiency, an incredible show and glorious battery life. All of this, packed in an ergonomic design. In his overview for CNET, Andrew Lanxon stated, “Oppo’s Discover X9 Professional may simply be one of many best Android phones I’ve examined in 2025 — and I’ve examined a lot.”
Whereas it is probably not obtainable for buy within the US, Oppo takes on Apple with options that are not even obtainable on the newest iPhone 17 Pro. And that places the Cupertino, California-based phone-maker in a tricky spot. Apple must proceed innovating and including new options to the iPhone, whereas additionally preserving tempo with what its rivals, corresponding to Oppo, are doing.
I have been utilizing the Discover X9 Professional for every week, and there are three options I need Apple to steal from Oppo for the iPhone 18.
1. Enhance the iPhone’s nonetheless pictures
On the left is the iPhone 17 Professional and on the precise is Oppo’s Discover X9 Professional.
Apple’s iPhone Professional fashions are the go-to for cellular videographers by leaps and bounds. In any case, the iPhone 17 Professional brings motion camera-like stability and post-editing versatility to video recordings — even in 8x zoom. Nonetheless, it lags behind Chinese language rivals, corresponding to Xiaomi and Oppo, by way of portrait high quality, low-light photographs, and long-zoom pictures.
The Oppo Discover X9 Professional has a 200-megapixel telephoto digicam with a 3x optical zoom lens, offering photographs with sharp particulars. Against this, the iPhone 17 Professional gives a 4x 48-megapixel tele digicam with 8x “optical-like zoom,” which, in my testing, outputs noisy outcomes in comparison with the Oppo telephone, particularly in low-light situations.
I’ve loved capturing 10x pictures with my Discover X9 Professional, however I would not transcend 4x on my iPhone for stills due to that aforementioned picture noise. Oppo has better-looking digital picture processing, and this extends to portrait mode, low-light eventualities and macro pictures.
It’s arduous to get the feel of Grand Seiko’s Morning Frost watch proper. The Oppo Discover X9 Professional’s macro mode was capable of seize the small print in 6x zoom.
The Oppo telephone tends to be higher at detecting the sides round topics and including a bokeh impact in portrait mode. Neon lights seem extra vibrant in low-light photographs, and there’s much less noise in darkish environments. Macro pictures, even at 6x zoom, have glorious particulars, and because of this, you needn’t get tremendous near your topic to get handsome macro photographs, just like the pattern above. You’ll be able to take a look at extra pictures here.
In all these eventualities, you get better-looking photographs than with an iPhone with only a single faucet. I want Apple would introduce such digicam processing in portraits, macro and low-light modes.
I’ve Taken Lots of of Photographs With the Oppo Discover X9 Professional. These Are My Faves
2. Add extra battery capability
The Oppo Discover X9 Professional packs an enormous 7,500-mAh battery, which is considerably bigger than the iPhone 17 Professional Max’s 5,018mAh, in response to Apple’s EU web site. In CNET’s lab testing, the 17 Professional Max carried out on the prime of all our checks when it debuted in September. It is price noting that since Apple controls the {hardware}, software program, and processor design, the corporate is ready to eke out extra energy effectivity than Android telephone makers.
I’m somebody who constantly makes use of their telephone for greater than 8 hours daily. Whereas the Discover X9 Professional would not ship double the battery lifetime of my iPhone 17 Professional Max, I have never been capable of kill it in a single day. In case you’re a reasonable telephone consumer, you may count on it to last as long as two days on a single cost.
Actually, the Discover X9 Professional carried out the most effective we have ever seen on CNET’s streaming video battery check, simply edging out the iPhone 17 Professional Max’s results of 91%. As Andrew Lanxon, CNET’s lead photographer and editor-at-large, wrote in his Find X9 Pro review, “After 3 hours of streaming video on YouTube, the telephone dropped from 100% to solely 92%. The iPhone 17 Professional dropped to 85% after the identical period of time, whereas the Pixel 10 Professional XL dropped all the way in which to 76%.” And even whether it is operating low on battery, you may quick cost it at 80 watts as in comparison with the iPhone 17 Professional’s 40-watt quick charging.
A part of the rationale behind the Oppo’s stellar battery life is its sheer capability. The Discover X9 Professional has a silicon-carbon battery, which permits for extra battery capability in the identical area as a lower-capacity lithium-ion battery — just like the one present in iPhones. I need Apple to borrow this silicon-carbon battery tech for its subsequent iPhone, so I could be out and about with out carrying my energy financial institution on lengthy days. It would be a godsend for travels. Are you able to think about the sort of battery life an iPhone Professional Max would get with a 7,500-mAh battery?
3. Extra miscellaneous additions for the iPhone
Expanded folders are my go-to homescreen addition on supported smartphones
There are a couple of different issues that I really like on my Oppo Discover X9 Professional and need I had on my iPhone 17 Professional Max. These are:
-
Multifunction Motion Button: Apple has caught to a double-press shortcut for the Motion button, which feels limiting. I need to have the ability to use my shortcut in addition to silence my telephone utilizing that button. Oppo means that you can add two functionalities to its AI Plus Key with an extended press to report voice notes and a single press to avoid wasting a screenshot in its “Thoughts Area.” I do not desire a Thoughts Area on my iPhone, but it surely’d be cool to equally assign two shortcuts to a button.
-
Expandable folders on dwelling display: I’ve liked this skill on Honor’s MagicOS, and equally prefer it on Oppo’s ColorOS. My go-to dwelling display setup encompasses a folder with 5 apps, expanded to supply one-tap entry to 3 of them. It makes my dwelling display look organized with grouped apps and but retains the moment entry skill of a single app.
-
Upgraded high quality in Dwell Photographs: I’ve Dwell Photographs turned on as a result of it offers a behind-the-scenes take a look at the uncooked feelings captured in my photographs. It’s also nice for Reels and TikToks, the place you may flip them into mini clips so as to add to your brief movies. However I want Apple would give these transformed mini clips the identical high quality as its movies. At the moment, they seem like of low decision and have a decrease body fee. Nonetheless, on the Oppo Discover X9 Professional, you may convert Dwell Photographs into 4K movies, which is right for creating short-form content material.
The iPhone 17 Professional is a superb gadget for prosumers, however I am certain most shoppers would like to have these Discover X9 Professional options on their Apple gadget. From better-looking portraits to iOS enhancements, my wishlist for the following iPhone is prepared. I hope Apple delivers.
Editors’ observe: The creator’s journey prices associated to the launch of the Oppo Discover X9 Professional had been lined by Oppo. The judgments and opinions of CNET are our own.
