Oppo’s Find X6 Pro packs a 1-inch sensor and a periscopic camera

We were left impressed with Oppo’s Find X5 Pro last year, so naturally, we have high expectations for its successor. As announced earlier, the upcoming Find X6 Pro meets the basic requirements you’d expect from a 2023 flagship: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, Sony’s IMX989 “1-inch” sensor for the main camera, a bright 6.82-inch 3,168 x 1,440 AMOLED screen, a generous 5,000mAh battery, an IP68 ruggedness rating and up to 16GB of RAM plus 512GB of storage. As a bonus, Oppo also brought back a periscopic telephoto camera — a missing feature since the Find X2 Pro from 2020 — to make full use of its photopgrahy partnership with Hasselblad, as well as its very own MariSilicon X imaging neural processor.

The Find X6 Pro features what’s arguably the largest external redesign since the Find X3 Pro, with the three rear cameras — all with a 50-megapixel resolution plus optical stabilization — residing within a large circular island. The glass-covered upper part houses the main camera (23mm equivalent), the ultra-wide camera (15mm equivalent), the LED flash and Hasselblad’s logo, while the lower part features the periscopic camera with 3x optical zoom (65mm equivalent) or 6x “in-sensor” zoom — we’ll get to that later. As for video recording, you can get up to 4K at 60fps, though the 32-megapixel punch-hole selfie camera (21mm equivalent) on the other side is limited to 1080p at 30fps.

While the 3x optical zoom on this new periscopic camera may sound less exciting than the 5x counterpart on the Find X2 Pro, it does offer a 6x “in-sensor” zoom. This is thanks to the relatively large Sony IMX890 sensor (1/1.56-inch), which still offers a good amount of pixels even when cropped natively. With a pre-release firmware, I was able to capture impressively clean and sharp shots even at 6x. Of course, any other 10x optical zoom camera would beat this hybrid solution, but this is still a viable alternative, especially given how handy the 3x optical zoom comes in for food photography and the new Hasselblad Portrait Mode — the latter claiming to simulate “the colors and depth of field of Hasselblad’s classic XCD30 and XCD80 lenses.”

As for the ultra-wide camera, it also uses an IMX890 sensor, which is apparently the largest offering to date in this category. Like before, this camera packs a freeform surface lens to minimize distortion, along with a relatively large f/2.2 aperture.

Of course, there are plenty other non-photography goodies on the Find X6 Pro. The 5,000mAh battery is now paired with a new 100W SuperVOOC fast charging, which goes from zero to 100-percent charge in just 28 minutes. Or you can go with 50W AirVOOC wireless charging, which takes 52 minutes to reach a full charge. Oppo also claims to double the battery lifespan with its Battery Health Engine from last year.

In addition to the usual stereo speakers, Oppo implemented a design dubbed “Active Privacy Protection for Voice Calls” to the earpiece, which is apparently “capable of improving sound insulation by up to a factor of 3.5 to reduce audio leakage.” In other words, people stood around you are less likely to eavesdrop on your calls.

Last but not least, while not all flagship phones come with an infrared remote control, some may still appreciate this feature on the Oppo Find X6 Pro to control things like TVs, air conditioners and lights.

The Oppo Find X6 Pro will be available in China from March 24th, with design options including a dual-tone brown (glass plus vegan leather), black (glass) and green (glass). Prices range from 5,999 yuan or about $873 (12GB RAM with 256GB storage) to 6,999 yuan or about $1,018 (16GB RAM with 512GB storage).

There’s also a similar-looking but more affordable Find X6, which swaps out the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with MediaTek’s Dimensity 9200. Also, its main camera uses an IMX890 instead of the 1-inch IMX989, whereas its ultra-wide camera uses a Samsung JN1 sensor and, sadly, lacks a freeform lens. That said, this phone still packs a generous 4,800mAh battery with 80W fast charging, and it comes with an IP64 ruggedness rating. It’ll be offered in green, gold and black, with prices going from 4,499 yuan or around $654 (12GB RAM with 256GB storage) to 4,999 yuan or about $727 (16GB RAM with 512GB storage).

We’ll be keeping an eye out for international availability, even though it’ll likely be limited to Europe for the west. Stay tuned.

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