Oppo Find X8 Pro: Dual Periscope Cameras and AI Features Challenge Flagship Rivals

Oppo's Find X8 Pro packs dual periscopes, a haptic shutter button, and oodles of AI

More Android phones are picking up the Pixel 9's flexible data transfer next year After weeks of teasing, Oppo has finally unveiled the new Find X8 Pro -- its first flagship in several years to launch in Europe. ✕ Remove Ads The Find X8 Pro is a bit of a beast. Powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9400, it boasts a 6.78" 120Hz OLED panel, which the company says peaks at 4,500 nits' brightness. It's not a flat panel, but instead uses the 'micro-curving' that's been popular in Chinese flagships as of late, with a subtle rounding to each of the screen's four sides -- enough to feel smooth when your scrolling finger hits the edge of the panel, but not so curved as to affect app visibility or usability. Oppo Find X8 Pro The Oppo Find X8 Pro is a full-on flagship phone, with dual periscope cameras, plenty of AI-powered software features, and Android's first take on the touch-sensitive Camera Control button introduced in the iPhone 16 series. SoC MediaTek Dimensity 9400 Display type OLED, 120Hz Display dimensions 6.78" Display resolution 1264 x 2780 RAM Up to 16GB Storage Up to 512GB Battery 5,910mAh Charge speed 80W wired, 50W wireless Operating System Android 15 with ColorOS Front camera 32MP Rear camera 50MP main; 50MP ultrawide; 50MP 3x telephoto; 50MP 6x telephoto Weight 215g IP Rating IP68/69 Colors White, black Expand The Hasselblad-branded cameras are inevitably a focal point, with a quadruple set of 50MP lenses: a main camera using the 1/1.4" Sony LYT-808 sensor and a wide f/1.6 aperture; an f/2.0 ultrawide; a 3x periscope lens with an f/2.6 aperture; and finally a 6x periscope at f/4.3. Oppo says this is the first dual-periscope phone to hit Western markets, as opposed to other models that pair a periscope with a second regular telephoto. ✕ Remove Ads A 5,910mAh silicon-carbon battery promises decent longevity, and 80W wired charging with 50W wireless means speedy top-ups too. Oppo is even selling magnetic charging accessories, but the magnets are built into the separate cases, so don't mistake this for Qi2 support. It's 2024, so Oppo is going hard on AI too. There are the usual Google Gemini AI features and Circle to Search, some built-in photo editing tools, and an 'AI Telescope Zoom' that kicks in to sharpen long-range telephotography. There's also Lightning Snap, a burst photo mode that Oppo says is the best around at capturing fast-moving subjects like athletes or pets, and a new app for one-touch file-sharing with any phone... so long as that other phone also has the appropriate Oppo app installed. ✕ Remove Ads Probably more importantly, Oppo is also trying to keep up with Google and Samsung on software support, promising a respectable five OS updates, through to Android 20, and security patches until 2030. There are some interesting hardware touches on the outside too. For one, the phone boasts an IP68/69 rating, meaning it's rated for protection against both immersion in water and high-pressure, high-temperature jets. Finally, a phone built to survive a jacuzzi. Related From IP ratings to military spec: What do all these phone ruggedness ratings mean? Just how tough is your phone? It's launching in black and white, with the latter a little more interesting -- its pearlescent finish is apparently built using a multi-layered process that makes every phone unique, so none will have quite the same final effect. ✕ Remove Ads You'll also spot a new camera button. This is a touch-sensitive haptic button that can be used to launch the camera app, take photos, and zoom in and out. Can't think where we've seen anything like that before. You'll spot a similarly unique alert slider on the other side of the device, which is no huge surprise given that this shares quite a few specs with the OnePlus 13, released in China a few weeks ago, including most of the rear cameras and that IP68/69 rating. Related OnePlus 13: Price, specs, news, features, and release date A bigger battery, IP69, and so much more 11 ✕ Remove Ads Oppo watchers may want to note that this is the Find X8 Pro, not Ultra. When asked, Oppo confirmed to us that this is not the sequel to the Find X7 Ultra, which launched in January this year, leaving open the possibility of an even more powerful phone still on the way -- though we wouldn't be surprised to see any Ultra model stay China-only. That seems likely in part because even this launch isn't all about Europe. Alongside the Pro, Oppo also unveiled a regular Find X8. This is a remarkably similar phone, with only a few changes: it has blocky, rather than rounded, edges; there's no dedicated camera shutter button; the whole phone is smaller and lighter; and there are only three rear cameras, dropping the 6x periscope and using a smaller sensor for the main shooter. ✕ Remove Ads The base Find X8 isn't launching in Europe however, and will instead be focused on Asian markets. The Pro model is out from today, priced at £1,049 (around $1,325) in the UK. Unsurprisingly, neither phone will launch in the US.

The first Android phone with an Apple-style camera key is now available globally

The Pro device also has an Apple-style camera button that supports swipe gestures. OPPO's flagship Find X phones have skipped global markets for the last two years, depriving us of two top-tier camera phones. Fortunately, this trend has come to an end as the Find X8 and X8 Pro have now launched globally. We previously covered the Find X8 series specs when the phones launched last month, but you're still getting a great flagship Android phone experience here. The two phones share IP68 and IP69 ratings, an alert slider, the top-notch MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chipset, your choice of 80W wired or 50W wireless charging, and a 32MP selfie camera. The firm even offers magnetic wireless charging support via optional cases. OPPO is also offering five major OS updates and six years of security patches. That's not quite as good as Samsung and Google, but it's still a very respectable update policy. Notable AI features include AI Clarity Enhance functionality to improve the quality of low-resolution shots, AI Reflection Remover, AI Studio for image generation, AI summaries (including recorder summaries), and AI writing assistance. The Find X8 Pro is the more impressive phone thanks to a 6.78-inch micro-curved OLED screen (2,780 x 1,264, 120Hz, 4,500 nits peak brightness), a 5,910mAh battery, and an Apple-style camera shutter key that supports swipe gestures for camera zoom. Speaking of camera-related features, the Find X8 Pro sports a quad 50MP rear camera system. This consists of a 50MP LYT-808 main camera (1/1.4-inch sensor size), a 50MP ultrawide lens, a 50MP 3x periscope lens (LYT-600), and a 50MP 6x periscope camera (IMX858). It's worth noting that the main camera sensor is notably smaller than the one-inch sensor used in the Find X7 Ultra, so we're keen to see how the Find X8 Pro holds up in this regard. OPPO's standard Find X8 model is smaller than the Pro variant, but it's not quite a compact flagship. Expect a 6.59-inch OLED screen (2,760 x 1,256, 120Hz, 4,500 nits peak brightness) and a 5,610mAh battery. The smaller phone also has the same rear camera system as the Find X8 Pro, albeit without the 6x 50MP periscope lens. Nevertheless, the 3x shooter should deliver 6x shots at a lossless resolution. Furthermore, both phones have camera features like Dolby Vision video recording and Lightning Snap capture tech for faster capture speeds. Oddly enough, only the OPPO Find X8 Pro is coming to the UK. The phone will retail for £1,049 ($1,328) for the sole 16GB/512GB model. The Find X8 Pro will be available from OPPO's e-store and O2. The company didn't disclose European pricing/availability for the Find X8 series but we'll update the article as soon as we find out. The launch also comes as we hear more rumors about an apparent Find X8 Ultra model. So those hoping for a more premium experience might want to keep an eye out for this device.

Android already has its first Camera Control clone

We knew it was coming, we even asked for it to happen, but we didn't expect it would be quite so quick: almost exactly two months after Apple launched its iPhone 16 series, we have the first Android competitor with its own version of the Camera Control button. ✕ Remove Ads Oppo Find X8 Pro The Oppo Find X8 Pro is a full-on flagship phone, with dual periscope cameras, plenty of AI-powered software features, and Android's first take on the touch-sensitive Camera Control button introduced in the iPhone 16 series. SoC MediaTek Dimensity 9400 Display type OLED, 120Hz Display dimensions 6.78" Display resolution 1264 x 2780 RAM Up to 16GB Storage Up to 512GB Battery 5,910mAh Charge speed 80W wired, 50W wireless Operating System Android 15 with ColorOS Front camera 32MP Rear camera 50MP main; 50MP ultrawide; 50MP 3x telephoto; 50MP 6x telephoto Weight 215g IP Rating IP68/69 Colors White, black Expand Oppo's Find X8 Pro, the company's first flagship phone to launch in the West for almost three years, is also the first to feature what it calls the 'Quick Button'. This is a touch-sensitive strip along the right-hand side of the phone's body that doubles as a haptic button, and is used for quick access to basic camera controls. So far, so Apple. ✕ Remove Ads Perhaps smartly, Oppo has limited how much you can do with the Quick Button. While Apple's Camera Control can be used to adjust exposure or switch between lenses, Oppo's approach is simpler: double-press to open the camera, press again to take a photo or start recording video, hold it down to take a series of burst shots, and slide along to zoom in or out (though this last one only works when the phone is in landscape mode, for reasons). That makes this much closer to a plain ol' shutter button, but I think that simplicity works in its favor. I haven't used Apple's implementation for more than a minute or two on a friend's iPhone 16, but in his iPhone 16 Pro Max review my colleague Will Sattelberg called it "convoluted to the point of actual madness," so I think I'll take Oppo's approach, which is streamlined enough that I do actually find myself using it. ✕ Remove Ads One small disappointment is that despite the generic 'Quick Button' naming, Oppo hasn't taken the opportunity to make this button versatile or customizable. You can turn any of the camera shortcuts, and adjust the haptic pressure sensitivity, but you can't set the button to open a different app or do, well, anything else at all. Hopefully Oppo adds some more options down the line. The other edge it has over the iPhone is positioning. While I still find it's just a touch too close to the center of the phone, and away from where my finger naturally rests for a shutter button, it's clearly in a much more comfortable spot than Apple managed. I remain baffled that neither company has managed to get this quite right though -- if I struggle to reach with my big hands, plenty of people will find it near unusable. Related The iPhone 16 proves it's past time for shortcut buttons to return to Android Finding inspiration in Camera Control 4 ✕ Remove Ads I may have jokingly called this a 'Camera Control clone', but it is probably worth addressing the timeline here: with Apple's hardware only announced two months ago, and the first leaks not too long before that, it's likely that Oppo has been developing this design in parallel with Apple rather than just hitting copy-paste, though the timing hasn't done the Chinese company any favors. Of any phone, it might make sense that the Find X8 Pro is the first to lean into Applesque camera controls. This is a phone that takes its photos seriously, with a quadruple Hasselblad rear camera featuring 50MP sensors behind every single lens. The highlights are the dual periscope lenses, one at 3x zoom and the other at 6x, which are bolstered by 'AI Telescope Zoom' when you hit a certain zoom depth. ✕ Remove Ads I'll admit I'm spoilt by using the Xiaomi 14 Ultra as my daily driver, probably the best camera phone in the world right now, and with exceptional telephoto lenses. Still, I've enjoyed the results from these cameras, including some rather respectable low-light performance from the two periscopes. Close Oppo's usually over-saturated color tuning seems to have been calmed down somewhat -- their relationship with Hasselblad is one of the rare camera partnerships that really does seem to be shaping their color science and processing for the better -- allowing me to capture some unexpectedly beautiful, naturalistic shots out of the phone. ✕ Remove Ads My only real gripe is with the periscopes' focus. Neither are capable of short-throw focus, ruling these out for either telemacro photography or even just close-ups of anything nearby. Strangely, this problem is worse on the 3x lens, which is fundamentally useless on anything closer than an arm's length away, while the 6x shooter is a little more versatile. Both do well at long-distance, but that's only half of what a telephoto lens should be good for. Elsewhere, the phone doesn't skimp on much. It's powered by the new MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chipset, boasts a 6.78in OLED display with micro-curving on every edge, and despite a slender build it somehow squeezes in a silicon-carbon battery that's a hair under 6,000mAh. It shares a number of specs in common with the OnePlus 13, along with the trademark knurled alert slider on the left-hand side, though leans a little harder on the cameras and a little less on pure performance. ✕ Remove Ads The Find X8 Pro launches worldwide, though not in the US, from today. In Asia it's joined by the slightly lower-specced Find X8, which has a simplified camera and smaller design, but in the process omits the Quick Button entirely.

Oppo's Find X8 Pro Wants to Be an AI Phone, but Its Camera Is the Real Star

Even before unboxing the Find X8 Pro -- let alone using it, I knew Oppo wanted AI to be this phone's main attraction. It was obvious: The words Oppo AI Phone were conspicuously emblazoned on the side of the device's box, and the company had been playing up the features on the device ahead of its launch. After all, the Find X8 Pro is Oppo's top flagship phone aimed at Samsung's Galaxy S24 lineup and Apple's iPhone 16 line -- both of which boast their fair share of useful AI features. The Galaxy S24's AI features include live translation on phone calls and generative image features like Sketch to Image. Meanwhile, the iPhone 16's features include a revamped Siri as well as time-saving message summaries. The Chinese company's ambitions are hardly surprising given the continued buzz and gen AI product releases in the smartphone and broader consumer tech space. For its part, the Find X8 Pro delivers on its promise. It's the company's first "AI phone" that offers a slew of features relating to productivity and photo editing, as well as AI recommendations that are designed to make the experience more intuitive. But it's the pair of 50-megapixel periscope-style telephoto cameras on the device that stood out to me during my day testing this phone. Those cameras were among the most impressive zoom cameras I've ever tested thanks to their crisp images of faraway objects, along with the sheer versatility and creative freedom they enabled. Beyond the cameras, the Oppo Find X8 Pro has a bevvy of flagship-level features going for it. It features an impossibly bright and crystalline display, runs on a large silicon-carbon battery backed up by ultra-fast wired and wireless charging, and boasts impressive durability credentials of IP68 and IP69. The latter means the device can withstand jet sprays of water, even at sizzling temperatures of 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit). However, it's not perfect. The Find X8 Pro receives a slightly shorter duration of software updates than some other rival Android phones. It gets five years of Android OS updates and six years of security patches, which is less than the seven years offered by Samsung's Galaxy S24 series and Google's Pixel 9 lineup. Oppo also unapologetically mimics Apple's features. The Find X8 Pro's so-called Quick Control buttons copies the iPhone 16's camera control button, which is a hardware feature designed to offer users convenient access to the camera, at least for now. Oppo has had a history of borrowing Apple's designs, case in point: the Oppo Watch from 2020. Lastly, the Find X8 Pro isn't receiving a US launch. However, it's the first time since 2022 that Oppo is releasing its flagship Find X series internationally. At the time of writing, Oppo hasn't shared pricing information. The headline feature of the Find X8 Pro's camera module is the duo of periscope-style telephoto cameras. There are two 50-megapixel telephoto cameras capable of 3x and 6x optical zoom. Unlike digital zoom, which partially achieves a closer shot by cropping into an image, optical zoom is considered to be a true zoom because it uses the camera's lens to magnify the image without losing image quality. However, Oppo does have an AI Telescope Zoom feature that enhances the images taken using digital zoom. It's automatically activated at 10x, just beyond the range of the optical zoom, and takes crisp images in various lighting conditions, including low-light environments. Plus, thanks to its periscope-style cameras, the Find X8 Pro offers a versatile range of focal lengths to choose from, which allowed for more creative freedom. It was just fun, and I felt I could trust the camera to deliver detailed images without trying too hard. Telephoto lenses are already a coveted premium feature on smartphones, and this periscope-style telephoto is an even bigger step up when it comes to zoom quality. I didn't get to use the full extent of the AI features on the Find X8 Pro since Hong Kong is uniquely disadvantaged in the AI chatbot arena -- most Western tech giants don't extend their services to this city. For instance, I couldn't use the Google Gemini app, which is natively installed on the Find X8 Pro. Additionally, the AI Toolbox didn't seem to activate automatically, as I didn't receive recommended tools based on the active app. Most of the AI features available on the Find X8 Pro are already present on competing phones. These include Circle to Search, a new recorder app powered by Gemini 1.5 Pro and a text-generating tool called AI Writer. Despite this, I absolutely appreciated having generative AI features neatly integrated into apps like Oppo's Notes app, which helped generate text. The AI summary tool on the recorder app was supremely useful to me as a journalist who's often using a voice recorder for stories. Those features worked well enough for them be go-to features in my productivity tool kit. However, I would love to see more action-oriented features that an AI agent can deliver. For example, fellow Chinese rival Honor has implemented such features with the Magic V3 in mainland China. It helps users order coffee or groceries by learning their preferences and habits over time. The Find X8 Pro also has a new hardware button, similar to iPhone 16's Camera Control button. The Quick Button -- as Oppo has dubbed it -- is pressure-sensitive and allows you to take photos, zoom in and out of shots and take a burst of photos. It doesn't have as many supported features as the iPhone 16's camera button, such as adjusting the aperture or even taking videos, but I doubt I'd even want it to. In my short time with the Find X8 Pro, I didn't end up naturally using the Quick Button much because it's simply not a habit. I don't expect to use it much in the long-run either and would prefer to take pictures the regular way. But when I did try Quick Control, I found it intuitive in terms of figuring out how to use it, although I haven't developed the habit of taking pictures that way. Still I found myself wondering whether Oppo might update this feature to take on more functions that I would use. Oppo has hopped on the silicon-carbon battery bandwagon, which fellow Chinese phone maker and rival Honor pioneered in smartphones, taking a page from the electric vehicles industry. I haven't spent enough time with the device to test the battery life, but there are potential advantages to this emerging trend over lithium-ion batteries. Those include a lower environmental impact and reduced risk of overheating. The long-term reliability of silicon carbon batteries is still being researched, and adoption in the smartphone industry is still in its early stages. But the fact that more smartphone makers are switching over from lithium-iron is an encouraging sign. The Find X8 Pro run on Mediatek's Dimensity 9400 chipset, which supports advanced AI capabilities on premium Android phones along with promises of performance improvements. The Oppo Find X8 Pro is a promising phone with all the trappings of a high-end 2024 phone, from its durable and sleek design to its impressive camera system and that silicon-carbon battery. While those periscope style cameras will remain a highlight from my early impressions of this phone, I'm still thinking about the potential of Oppo's AI features. Even though my limited access to these features means I haven't fully explored them, I did love having the writing feature on the Notes app and the AI summary tool on the recorder app. However, if Oppo really wants to take things to the next level, an AI agent would help turn this device into a true assistant.