Oppo’s Find X8 Pro is a flagship Android phone that shows the Chinese handset maker can go head-to-head with Samsung. It may be more phone than you need, or can afford, but it does a lot to promote Oppo’s brand. This story was originally posted in December 2024.

Cameras have been the headline feature in premium phones for a decade. There’s a reason for that.

Little changes in a handset’s ability to make calls or send messages from year to year. Processors are more powerful, but have long been good enough for most apps. Many apps that demand extra power are little more than digital trinkets.

Most other changes are cosmetic or incremental.

Peak phone camera

This camera-first trend reached a new peak when Oppo launched the Find X8 Pro in Auckland.

Speakers at the event focused almost entirely on the cameras. A guest photographer said he now uses the phone for professional work.

This is not the first handset to put the camera front and centre. From the outside, though, it looks more like a camera than most.

Distinctive camera ring

The rear is dominated by a large circular camera ring with four prominent lenses.

Early camera clusters tried to blend in. Not here. Oppo has gone out of its way to make the module stand out.

There is also branding from Hasselblad, the Swedish camera maker.

Hasselblad Master Camera System

The Find X8 Pro includes the Hasselblad Master Camera System. It sounds impressive, even if the name will mean little to many buyers.

Oppo itself may be unfamiliar. The company is New Zealand’s third largest phone brand behind Samsung and Apple.

Globally it ranks fourth. Xiaomi sells more elsewhere, but Oppo outsells it in New Zealand. In effect, it has taken the place Huawei once held.

Even so, it trails the leaders. Samsung and Apple account for about 85 percent of local sales. Oppo has roughly 10 percent.

Zoom with periscopes

The headline feature is a 50-megapixel camera system with a 135mm (6x) periscope lens and a 23mm wide-angle sensor. It is the first phone with two periscopes, giving a wider zoom range.

The technology is impressive. You can capture a clear image of a car on the Auckland Harbour Bridge from a kilometre away at Birkenhead Wharf.

The question is whether you need it. A 60x zoom is striking, but hard to justify in everyday use. Most people will rarely need that reach.

At times it feels close to voyeurism.

Artificial intelligence

No 2024 phone arrives without AI features. Oppo uses AI to enhance zoom images, filling in detail to improve quality.

The results can feel uncanny.

There are also AI editing tools. You can remove reflections, sharpen images or deblur shots. Another tool can remove unwanted people from photos.

This is powerful, but raises questions about how much we can trust images.

Apple and Samsung offer similar features. Comparisons are difficult and largely come down to taste.

Other AI tools include text summarising, transcription and grammar checking. These are useful, but now standard at this price.

Other features

The review unit did not include a charger, so fast charging was hard to test. Using a standard USB-C charger, the phone reached 30 percent in about 20 minutes and a full charge in just over an hour.

The 5910mAh battery is larger than most rivals. In practice, it delivers up to two days of normal use. Heavy photography will reduce that.

Verdict: Oppo Find X8 Pro

It is a bold move to charge NZ$2300 for a phone without the Samsung or Apple badge. You can buy a high-end iPhone or Galaxy for similar money.

If you are considering one, handle it in a store alongside rivals before buying.

Zoom aside, there may not be enough here to tempt committed iPhone users to switch. Samsung users, however, have a credible alternative.

If you want extreme zoom and can justify the price, this phone delivers.

More broadly, Oppo is a brand worth taking seriously. The technology is strong and its mid-range phones are often keenly priced.