Oppo Find X9 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy A36 5G

Oppo Find X9 Ultra

A 6.8-inch LTPO OLED with up to 144Hz and very high real-world brightness — among the brightest screens on any phone outdoors.

• 6.8-inch LTPO OLED panel up to 144Hz, with a maximum brightness around 1,800 nits and dimming as low as 1 nit.
• Hits a staggering ~3,600 nits of peak HDR brightness, making it incredibly easy to see and edit shots in direct sunlight.
• In manual mode the display peaks at 840 nits, rising to ~1,156 nits in auto on a 75% white patch and up to ~1,932 nits in the native gallery app.
• The smoother 144Hz panel and 3,600-nit brightness outperform Samsung's display.

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G

The 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED at 120Hz is the standout reason to buy this phone for the money. Notebookcheck measured peak HDR brightness above 2,000 cd/m² and GSMArena clocked 1,230 nits in auto mode — better than most rivals in this bracket. The catch is a 120Hz/240Hz low-frequency PWM dimming pattern that can bother PWM-sensitive eyes, and the bezels are still wider than the cheapest competition.

• Peak HDR brightness measured over 2,000 cd/m² in lab testing — exceptional for a sub-$400 phone and even brighter than Samsung's claimed 1,900-nit spec.
• The display gets nice and bright for sunny-day use, though colors can look slightly washed out at peak auto brightness.
• GSMArena measured the panel at 430 nits manual and 1,230 nits auto, up from the A35's roughly 1,000 nits, and the adaptive 120Hz dynamically drops to 60Hz to save battery.
• In HDR, Short Circuit's lab not only met Samsung's 1,900-nit claim but exceeded it, making for an excellent HDR viewing experience on an OLED panel.
• OLED PWM dimming runs at only 120Hz with a 240Hz secondary frequency — too low for PWM-sensitive users who may experience eye strain or headaches.
• The screen looks crisp and large for the money, but there is still no official HDR video support flagged by reviewers as a budget compromise.
• After a year of use, the 6.7-inch 120Hz Super AMOLED still feels like a full-flagship display in everyday use — bright, smooth, and great for video.
• Notebookcheck and Tech Daily both flag that the bezels — particularly along the lower edge — are still wider than what you get on similarly priced Xiaomi or Nothing phones.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 puts it near the top of the benchmark charts, but sustained-load stability is mediocre and Oppo deliberately throttles early to control heat.

• As expected, the Find X9 Ultra earns excellent benchmark scores near the top of the charts.
• A 3D ultrasonic fingerprint scanner Oppo claims is 35% faster and 33% more reliable, plus vapor cooling to dissipate heat through the aluminium frame for better sustained performance.
• 3DMark returned ~7,530 best-loop and ~3,682 low-loop with only ~49% stability, and peak performance didn't last a minute — weak sustained behaviour.
• Genshin Impact stayed consistently above 50fps and remained smooth even when throttling to ~30fps after ~16 minutes at 41.5°C, at under 4W power draw.
• Honor of Kings averaged 144fps over 30 minutes at max settings; Genshin held max 60fps before stabilizing near 50fps.

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G

The A36's Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is the phone's most consistent weak point. Notebookcheck found it benchmarks roughly the same as the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 from 2022, and in many tests the older Exynos 1380 in last year's A35 was actually faster. Wired's review went further: the carrier-locked A36 actually felt slower in daily use than the $100-cheaper Galaxy A26 sitting next to it. Reviewers agree it's still fast enough for everyday browsing, social, and light gaming, but anyone who games heavily should look elsewhere.

• The carrier-locked AT&T A36 produced visible stutters and felt sluggish out of the box, with the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 actually scoring lower in benchmarks than the Exynos 1380 in the $100-cheaper A26.
• Aside from slightly higher clock rates, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is functionally the same chipset as 2022's Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, and the Nothing Phone (3a)'s Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 is roughly 10-15% ahead in Geekbench.
• Benchmarks on the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 are roughly the same as last year's A35, with only a minor boost in raw graphics — overall performance is adequate for daily tasks and light gaming.
• Geekbench 6 results land at roughly 1,019 single-core and 2,947 multi-core after a year of updates — clearly on the lower end of the $400 bracket compared to phones like the Galaxy S25 FE.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra

A genuine highlight: a 7,050mAh silicon-carbon cell that posts some of the best endurance numbers of any 2026 flagship, with fast 100W wired and 50W wireless charging.

• Draws power from a 7,050mAh battery — a sizeable increase over the previous generation — with 100W SuperVOOC wired and 50W AirVOOC wireless charging.
• Earned an active-use battery score of over 20 hours; with the SuperVOOC charger it went 0–75% in 30 minutes and to full in 45 minutes.
• After ~10 hours of continuous use starting at 7am it still had 53% battery, regularly getting 8–9 hours of screen-on time and ~40% left after a 13-hour day.
• A PCMark synthetic loop returned 15 hours 2 minutes, and 100W SuperVOOC charging took ~49–52 minutes (the charger isn't included).
• With moderate usage you can easily expect more than 2 days of battery life — Oppo finally feels like a truly complete product.
• Charges 0–100% in about 52 minutes on the official 80W charger in a head-to-head charge test.

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G

The 5,000 mAh battery is unchanged from the A35 but the bigger story is charging: 45W wired charging (up from 25W) now hits 60-66% in 30 minutes and full in around 68 minutes — faster than the Galaxy S25 itself. Real-world battery life lands around a full day with 20-40% to spare. The catch: no wireless charging, no charger in the box, and you'll need a separate 45W brick with a 5A-rated cable to hit the advertised speeds.

• The 5,000 mAh battery comfortably lasts a day, with Wired regularly ending with 30-40% remaining and occasional heavy-use days dropping to 20% by 11pm.
• Samsung's quoted charging math — 30 minutes to 65% and full in 68 minutes — matches what reviewers measured in practice and is faster than the Galaxy S25 itself.
• Active-use battery score of 11 hours 38 minutes in GSMArena's standardised test is decent for the class, but actually a touch below last year's A35.
• There's no charger in the box, and you'll need a Samsung 45W brick (or compatible USB-PD adapter) with a 5A-rated cable — the 3A cable Samsung ships won't unlock full 45W speed.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra

ColorOS 16 has matured a lot and is fast and smooth, but it still trails Samsung and Google on AI depth and feels iOS-derived to some — the phone's clearest weak point relative to its hardware.

• ColorOS 16 feels like one of the best versions yet.
• It's a good Android experience but not on par with the Galaxy experience for AI features and tool integration, and portrait autofocus struggles in some low-light conditions.
• For me it's the best version of Android I've ever used — light, fast and smooth with no major issues.
• The hardware is superior to the latest Samsung, but the software feels like an imitation of iOS.
• With a bit of tweaking and updates, Oppo's software and camera engineers can make this even better — there's clear headroom.

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G

This is the A36's headline strength. Samsung promises six major OS updates and six years of security patches — the longest commitment in the budget Android segment, beating Pixel, iPhone and effectively everything else in this price bracket. The phone ships with Android 15 and One UI 7 (now upgraded to One UI 8 a year in). 'Awesome Intelligence' brings a thoughtful subset of Galaxy AI — Circle to Search, AI Select, Object Eraser, Edit Suggestions, custom filters — without the heavier AI bloat seen on the S25.

• Six major Android upgrades and six years of security patches — effectively undercutting Pixel, iPhone and every rival in this price bracket on long-term software support.
• Awesome Intelligence is a scaled-down version of Galaxy AI — you get Circle to Search, AI Select, Object Eraser and Edit Suggestions, but not Now Brief or the full S25 suite.
• After a year of use the A36 has already been upgraded to One UI 8, confirming Samsung is staying on top of its update promise rather than letting the A-series fall behind.
• The A36 has 'almost none of the AI bloat that has honestly just been more annoying than anything else on the Pixel 9a lately' — basic Circle-to-Search and Object Eraser without the heavier S25 features.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra

Premium-priced and hard to buy in many markets, but reviewers broadly conclude it out-cameras the S26 Ultra and Pixel and edges the Vivo X300 Ultra on usability.

• Its main compromises are the ~€1,699 price, large 236g body, occasional software concerns and limited availability in some markets.
• It feels like Oppo wanted to make the camera first and just happened to also create the best Android phone you can get right now — though it won't win every year-end award.
• The base Find X9 Ultra starts at 7,499 yuan in China — roughly £814 / ~$1,100 — but the heaviness and visual pressure are the first impression.
• The closest rival is the Vivo X300 Ultra, but the X9 Ultra wins by having a more user-friendly OS.
• The Hasselblad alliance delivers a phone that genuinely challenges the Galaxy S26 Ultra on cameras.

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G

At $399 the A36 sits in an awkward spot — pricier than its $300 sibling the Galaxy A26 (which Wired argues is the better buy thanks to a more responsive Exynos 1380), $100 cheaper than the much more polished Galaxy A56, and shoulder-to-shoulder with the Nothing Phone (3a), Motorola Moto G Stylus 2025 and Xiaomi Poco X7 Pro — all of which offer something the A36 doesn't (better chip, wireless charging, microSD, more interesting design). The reason to choose the A36 is the six-year update window plus carrier promotions, not the spec sheet.

• Most people will not pay full $399 — Samsung and carriers run aggressive launch promos, trade-in offers up to $150 off, and bundle deals on Buds FE and Watch FE.
• Wired's verdict: 'I would buy a Moto G Stylus 2025 or Nothing Phone (3a) before the Galaxy A26 or Galaxy A36' — Samsung is coasting on brand and carrier reach rather than spec leadership.
• If you can stretch $100 more, the Galaxy A56 brings aluminium+glass build, a larger 1/1.56" main sensor, 12MP ultrawide, Exynos 1580 chip and Best Face mode — and Trusted Reviews calls the upgrade meaningful.
• Notebookcheck names the Nothing Phone (3a) and Xiaomi Poco X7 Pro as the alternatives to consider if you don't want to lock yourself to the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 — both offer better performance per dollar.