If only this Android camera powerhouse was easy to buy, I’d recommend it in a heartbeat

I’ve been waiting a long time for this, but finally, I spent some time with the OPPO Find X8 Ultra. I was a big fan of the Find X8 Pro that preceded it, especially its camera capabilities, and the Ultra builds on that, so I was eager to give it a spin.

Unfortunately, this is the Chinese model so there are a few caveats to what I could test, as some of the AI capabilities won’t work in other regions. But that also exposes this phone’s biggest drawback — you can’t buy it outside mainland China. Let’s dive in and see what we’re missing.

The Find X8 Ultra ditches the retro two-tone vegan leather rear that the Find X7 Ultra had last year. I wasn’t the biggest fan of this design, so it’s an overall positive in my book. OPPO has also rounded the sides of this phone and added a nice matte finish on the back, which I vastly prefer. The flat display is another positive, with a 6.8-inch stretch, 120Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 2,500 nits. The colors really pop when watching content on the Ultra.

Another positive is the upgraded fingerprint reader. OPPO ditched the optical fingerprint reader on the Find X7 Ultra for an ultrasonic alternative that works really well. The Find X8 Ultra also packs an IP68/69 water resistance rating, which will protect your phone from hot jets of water.

Let’s talk internals. The OPPO Find X8 Ultra is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the same chip you’ll find on a gaggle of flagships in 2025. Regarding benchmarks, it’s pretty much hitting the numbers you would expect from a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. Anything you throw at this, it’s mostly going to handle with ease.

My other big favorite feature on this phone is its battery, specifically the 6,100mAh silicon-carbon battery. Let me tell you, this phone is tough to kill. In the days I’ve been using it, there hasn’t been a day where it has dipped under 30%, unless I’m really pushing it. The Find X8 Ultra is an immensely impressive smartphone considering the overall design and hardware package.

But not everything is good news, and the obvious one is that pesky issue of availability. If you’re looking to pick up the Find X8 Ultra, you’ll find it incredibly difficult. I asked OPPO if it would launch outside China anytime soon, and the answer wasn’t promising. I wouldn’t hold your breath for a global release of this.

Let me focus on another disappointment with the Find X8 Ultra: the missing alert slider. OPPO replaced it with a unique shortcut button, similar to Apple’s Action Button. You can assign it to perform actions like muting, turning on the flashlight, and others. However, you can’t set it to open any app you want, so you’re limited to OPPO’s default options. That falls well short of Apple’s capabilities.

It can also open the camera, which is odd because there’s a dedicated button for quick camera controls. I wasn’t a fan of this button on the Find X8 Pro, and I still find it lacking on the Find X8 Ultra. OPPO hasn’t improved it, which is disappointing on this pricier version of the device. A double tap opens the camera, and it’s a touch-sensitive button that lets you zoom in and out when taking photos. The zooming is decent, but it only works in landscape mode, not portrait. A single press takes photos, but you can’t switch modes or change camera settings, even in pro mode. This button is ill-conceived, and its unrealized potential makes its addition so frustrating.

Button aside, and on a positive note, the camera performance on the Find X8 Ultra is impressive. There are four dedicated lenses: a 50MP ultrawide, two 50MP optical telephoto lenses (with 3x and 6x zoom ranges), and a standout 50MP one-inch sensor primary camera. This snapper has a 69% larger sensor than the S25 Ultra’s and 63% larger than the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s. The difference is noticeable, especially in low light. You can also take JPEG Max photos in master mode, utilizing the one-inch sensor.

Yes, this primary camera is impressive. The details are accurate, and the dynamic range is fantastic. The photos look lifelike, with no oversaturation. This might be one of my favorite phone cameras in 2025. The AI zoom after 30x is surprisingly good, especially for buildings, creating usable details. The 50MP ultrawide is equally impressive, capturing great details despite some oversaturation.

I also love the 6x optical zoom results. The details are some of the best I’ve seen in a long time. The photos are slightly over-sharpened and slightly too saturated, but I can overlook that. I’ve taken many shots with the 6x optical lens and love the results, especially with the telemacro ability. The details are great, and the over-sharpening doesn’t occur in macro mode.

As for video, I still believe that the iPhone is the best, but OPPO has done a great job. It could potentially match the iPhone and be the best Android video phone. You can record at 4K60, with an update coming for 4K120, matching the frame rate potential of the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The stabilization is almost gimbal-like, buttery smooth. Switching between lenses is usually rough, but OPPO has made it nearly seamless, with only slight color shifting. The video details are excellent, too. In daylight, it handles well, and in nighttime video, it performs excellently, with great shadows and minimal noise. This might be my go-to Android video option right now.

Check out all the photo samples I took in the video embedded at the top of this review.

You might have guessed it already, but I love the Find X8 Ultra, even with the silly button issues and quirks. The problem is that this phone is not available in the US. In fact, it’s not available anywhere outside of China, at least at this point, which is a crying shame. To get your hands on one of these, you’ll have to import it, and sometimes, due to price and carrier compatibility, that’s just not worth the effort.

I do have to give credit here to OPPO, as it has done what vivo and Xiaomi are also doing with their Ultra-tier flagships — keep pushing for what is possible, especially with their cameras. I hope that, in turn, this makes Samsung, Google, and even Apple take note and stop playing it safe regarding their flagship releases.