Oppo Find X9 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S26 | TechTalkTown
Oppo Find X9 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S26
Oppo Find X9 Ultra
Oppo
8.8
The best camera phone of 2026
Samsung Galaxy S26
Samsung
7.6
Refined compact, stale camera setup
Oppo Find X9 Ultra
What Reviewers Agree On
One of the best — frequently the best — camera phones of 2026, with a uniquely versatile quad Hasselblad system and class-leading 10x optical zoom
Class-leading battery life: a 7,050mAh silicon-carbon cell routinely delivers 8–10+ hours of screen-on time and can stretch to two days
100W SuperVOOC wired and 50W AirVOOC wireless charging — roughly 0–100% in 45–52 minutes
Stunning, distinctive Hasselblad-inspired design widely called one of the best-looking phones of the year
Excellent, very bright display — ~3,600 nits HDR peak and ~1,800 nits full-screen outdoors
Pros & Cons
Oppo Find X9 Ultra
Pros
One of the best — frequently the best — camera phones of 2026, with a uniquely versatile quad Hasselblad system and class-leading 10x optical zoom
Class-leading battery life: a 7,050mAh silicon-carbon cell routinely delivers 8–10+ hours of screen-on time and can stretch to two days
100W SuperVOOC wired and 50W AirVOOC wireless charging — roughly 0–100% in 45–52 minutes
Stunning, distinctive Hasselblad-inspired design widely called one of the best-looking phones of the year
Excellent, very bright display — ~3,600 nits HDR peak and ~1,800 nits full-screen outdoors
Detailed Comparison
Design & Build
Oppo Find X9 Ultra
A Hasselblad-camera tribute in phone form — vegan leather, a symmetrical 'master eye' module and a Hexagon-inspired ring. Gorgeous to most, oversized to some, and undeniably heavy.
One of the best-looking phones of the year.
Inspired by the Hasselblad X2D camera — the most beautiful phone of 2026 so far.
The perfectly symmetrical 'master eye' camera module and Hasselblad-style shutter button clearly pay tribute to the brand's classic camera aesthetics.
The hardware is insanely ambitious, but the first thing you notice holding it isn't elegance — it's size and weight.
It weighs about 239g and measures ~9.1mm thick — a genuinely big phone.
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Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 delivers top-of-chart benchmark performance
Best-in-class video on an Android phone, with strong stabilization and 8K30 / 4K120 Dolby Vision across lenses
Deal Breakers
Heavy and large (≈236–239g, ~9.1mm) with a polarising oversized circular camera island
Expensive (≈€1,699 / ~$1,100+ in China) with limited or no official availability in many markets
ColorOS trails Samsung and Google on AI-feature depth and integration, and feels iOS-derived to some users
Mediocre sustained performance — 3DMark stability around 49% with peak performance dropping within a minute
Samsung Galaxy S26
What Reviewers Agree On
Class-leading compact form factor — 167g, 7.2mm thin, the lightest flagship of 2026
Bright, fluid 6.3-inch AMOLED with 2,600-nit peak and 120Hz LTPO — gorgeous in daily use
Industry-leading software support — seven years of Android OS upgrades and security patches
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (US/CN) delivers excellent everyday and benchmark performance
Doubled base storage to 256GB — Samsung finally killed the 128GB entry tier
Bigger 4,300 mAh battery (up from 4,000) — modest but real endurance gain
Deal Breakers
Camera hardware is the same 50MP + 12MP UW + 10MP 3x telephoto Samsung has shipped since the S22 — four years old and outclassed by rivals
25W wired charging is the slowest of any 2026 flagship — full charge takes 76-80 minutes
$100 price hike to $899 — the S25 is 99% the same phone for less
No built-in Qi2 magnets — Samsung still relies on cases while Google's Pixel 10 has PixelSnap baked in
No Privacy Display, no Gorilla Armor 2 anti-reflective coating — feature-gated to the Ultra
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 delivers top-of-chart benchmark performance
Best-in-class video on an Android phone, with strong stabilization and 8K30 / 4K120 Dolby Vision across lenses
Cons
Heavy and large (≈236–239g, ~9.1mm) with a polarising oversized circular camera island
Expensive (≈€1,699 / ~$1,100+ in China) with limited or no official availability in many markets
ColorOS trails Samsung and Google on AI-feature depth and integration, and feels iOS-derived to some users
Mediocre sustained performance — 3DMark stability around 49% with peak performance dropping within a minute
Samsung Galaxy S26
Pros
Class-leading compact form factor — 167g, 7.2mm thin, the lightest flagship of 2026
Bright, fluid 6.3-inch AMOLED with 2,600-nit peak and 120Hz LTPO — gorgeous in daily use
Industry-leading software support — seven years of Android OS upgrades and security patches
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (US/CN) delivers excellent everyday and benchmark performance
Doubled base storage to 256GB — Samsung finally killed the 128GB entry tier
Bigger 4,300 mAh battery (up from 4,000) — modest but real endurance gain
Cons
Camera hardware is the same 50MP + 12MP UW + 10MP 3x telephoto Samsung has shipped since the S22 — four years old and outclassed by rivals
25W wired charging is the slowest of any 2026 flagship — full charge takes 76-80 minutes
$100 price hike to $899 — the S25 is 99% the same phone for less
No built-in Qi2 magnets — Samsung still relies on cases while Google's Pixel 10 has PixelSnap baked in
No Privacy Display, no Gorilla Armor 2 anti-reflective coating — feature-gated to the Ultra
Some find the huge circular camera apparatus ugly, when we usually ask for less intrusive camera bumps.
Samsung Galaxy S26
Reviewers universally praise the S26's compact, lightweight aluminum frame — 167g and 7.2mm thin make it one of the few true single-handed flagships left. The new camera island is the only visible design change; almost everyone flags wobble on flat surfaces. There is wide frustration that the design has barely moved since the S22.
At 167g and 7.2mm thick, the S26 is meaningfully lighter and slimmer than the iPhone 17 Pro (206g, 8.8mm) and Pixel 10 Pro (207g, 8.6mm)
Compact form 'disappears into your pocket' and makes one-handed use easy — a genuine point of differentiation in 2026's slab-flagship landscape
Aluminum frame plus Gorilla Glass Victus 2 front and back; matte rear hides fingerprints well
Camera island makes the phone wobble noticeably more than the S25 when laid flat on a table
Reviewers call this the bare minimum of design changes — silhouette, buttons, and colorways are nearly identical to the S25, which itself looked like the S24
IP68 rated for dust and immersion — matches every Samsung flagship from the last several years
Available in Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, Black, White, plus Pink Gold and Silver Shadow as Samsung Store exclusives — colors are 'understated' rather than exciting
No physical AI/camera button — Samsung deliberately resisted the Apple Camera Control trend
Display
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 S26
The 6.3-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X (up 0.1" from the S25) hits 2,600 nits peak with a 1-120Hz LTPO refresh rate. Reviewers like the panel itself, but most flag that the new Privacy Display and Gorilla Armor 2 anti-reflective coating are Ultra-exclusive — frustrating at this price.
6.3-inch panel feels meaningfully larger than the S25's 6.2-inch without making the phone bigger overall — pixel density change is imperceptible
Notebookcheck measured the panel as bright, uniform, and color-accurate — among the best in its class
PhoneArena measured 2,425 nits at 20% APL — comfortably bright enough for outdoor use, though Pixel 10 Pro hits 2,921 nits
1-120Hz LTPO adapts smoothly; haptics are 'precise' and contribute to the premium feel
Sustains peak brightness over longer periods better than the iPhone 17, which throttles brightness after a few minutes
Privacy Display tech is Ultra-exclusive — base S26 buyers lose Samsung's marquee 2026 feature
Missing Gorilla Armor 2 anti-reflective coating that comes standard on the Ultra — a notable downgrade at $900
PWM dimming on this AMOLED may bother users sensitive to display flicker
Cameras
Oppo Find X9 Ultra
The reason to buy it. A Hasselblad-tuned quad system with the most versatile zoom on any phone, a true 10x optical periscope and an optional 300mm Hasselblad teleconverter. Near-universally praised, with only minor sharpness and ultrawide caveats.
A 200MP main, 200MP 3x telephoto, 50MP 10x optical telephoto and 50MP ultrawide, all Hasselblad-branded — camera-first overkill in the best way.
Consistently great photos, sharpness and dynamic range with really good color calibration — this phone did basically everything right in the camera department; an incredibly well-rounded smartphone camera.
Is this the best camera phone ever built? — my new favorite camera phone and one of the best Android phones I've ever used.
Even after a direct shootout, still the best camera phone I've ever used.
Detail is very good, but sharpness remains a bit underwhelming on the main camera.
The ultrawide is probably the weakest part of the setup — with the first three cameras taking so much space, Oppo reused the Samsung GN5 sensor here.
Night-mode processing — color, contrast and exposure handling — is so much better than the Galaxy S26 Ultra's, and the ultrawide is now one of the best for detail preservation.
The optional 300mm Hasselblad teleconverter delivers ~13x (300mm) optical-feel zoom that retains real telephoto sharpness, extending to ~60x (1380mm).
Samsung Galaxy S26
The single most contentious topic in every S26 review. The hardware (50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto) is unchanged from the S22 — four years old. Software upgrades (Photo Assist, Horizon Lock, Auto-framing) add features, but reviewers split sharply on whether the resulting images are 'still great' or 'severely outdated at $900'.
Same 50MP + 12MP UW + 10MP 3x telephoto hardware Samsung has shipped since the Galaxy S22 in 2022
Main camera produces vibrant, detailed shots with excellent sharpness — handles dynamic range more naturally than iPhone 17 or Pixel 10
Ultrawide is the weakest of the three lenses — soft, grainy edges and clear distortion in low light or backlit scenes
10MP 3x telephoto can't match Pixel 10's 5x reach; only 10MP resolution limits useful digital cropping
Object Aware Engine extended to the front camera — selfies are slightly warmer and more accurate than the S25
Performance
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 S26
The US/China Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 variant is one of the fastest Android phones you can buy, hitting Geekbench multi-core ~10,700 and stable in everyday and gaming workloads. The Exynos 2600 (Europe/ROW) is competitive in benchmarks but throttles harder under sustained load — reviewers split on whether it matters in daily use.
US Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 variant scores Geekbench 6 multi-core ~10,700 and single-core ~3,100 — among the fastest Android phones in 2026
Engadget's Exynos 2600 review unit hit Geekbench 6 multi-core 10,664 — surprisingly close to the Snapdragon S26 Ultra's 11,240
Exynos 2600 is Samsung's first 2nm chip — Geekbench AI scores noticeably trail Qualcomm, indicating a weaker NPU for on-device AI
S26 suffers significant performance dips under sustained load — smaller chassis has less thermal headroom than the Ultra's vapor chamber
Day-to-day responsiveness is excellent — multitasking, app launches, scrolling all instantaneous with no lag
Battery & Charging
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 S26
The 4,300 mAh cell is up from 4,000 in the S25 — a real but modest gain. Charging is the biggest pain point: 25W wired (slowest of any 2026 flagship), 15W wireless, and no integrated Qi2 magnets. PhoneArena measured 1h 16m for a full charge — slower than the iPhone 17.
4,300 mAh battery — first capacity increase for the base Galaxy in years; 7-10% bump over the S25
BGR tested Samsung's claim of 31 hours video playback at 200 nits — measured just over 30 hours, on target
Engadget measured the Exynos S26 at 28 hours of looped video at 50% brightness — Snapdragon S26 hit 30 hours in the same test
PhoneArena battery estimate of 6h 37m places the S26 at #102 of phones tested in the past 2 years — below the 7h 29m class average
Charging speed unchanged at 25W — full charge takes ~76 minutes; the OnePlus 15 hits 100W and lasts two days per charge
Software & AI
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 S26
One UI 8.5 on Android 16 is feature-packed but heavy. Samsung's seven-year update commitment matches Google's Pixel — class-leading. The new Galaxy AI features (Now Nudge, Now Brief, Perplexity integration, Photo Assist) are split-decision: a few genuinely useful (call screening, AI noise eraser), the rest forgettable.
Seven years of Android OS upgrades and security patches — class-leading alongside Google's Pixel commitment
Call Screening that forwards unknown numbers to an AI chatbot is 'the first bit of Galaxy AI worth paying for'
Audio Eraser now works in third-party apps like YouTube — genuinely useful for cutting crowd noise or background music
Now Nudge contextual suggestions rarely surface in practice; require Samsung Keyboard to function
Perplexity integration is curiously incomplete at launch — voice commands and Samsung Browser integration not working at review time