The Oppo Find X9 Pro is one of the most well-rounded phones of the year. It offers a versatile camera system, powerful performance, a great display and excellent battery life. All of this, packed in an ergonomic design. In his review for CNET, Andrew Lanxon said, «Oppo’s Find X9 Pro might just be one of the best Android phones I’ve tested in 2025 — and I’ve tested plenty.»
While it may not be available for purchase in the US, Oppo takes on Apple with features that aren’t even available on the latest iPhone 17 Pro. And that puts the Cupertino, California-based phone-maker in a tough spot. Apple needs to continue innovating and adding new features to the iPhone, while also keeping pace with what its competitors, such as Oppo, are doing.
I’ve been using the Find X9 Pro for a week, and there are three features I want Apple to steal from Oppo for the iPhone 18.
1. Improve the iPhone’s still photography
Apple’s iPhone Pro models are the go-to for mobile videographers by leaps and bounds. After all, the iPhone 17 Pro brings action camera-like stability and post-editing versatility to video recordings — even in 8x zoom. However, it lags behind Chinese competitors, such as Xiaomi and Oppo, in terms of portrait quality, low-light photos, and long-zoom shots.
The Oppo Find X9 Pro has a 200-megapixel telephoto camera with a 3x optical zoom lens, providing images with sharp details. By contrast, the iPhone 17 Pro offers a 4x 48-megapixel tele camera with 8x «optical-like zoom,» which, in my testing, outputs noisy results compared to the Oppo phone, especially in low-light conditions.
I’ve enjoyed shooting 10x shots with my Find X9 Pro, but I wouldn’t go beyond 4x on my iPhone for stills because of that aforementioned image noise. Oppo has better-looking digital image processing, and this extends to portrait mode, low-light scenarios and macro shots.
The Oppo phone tends to be better at detecting the edges around subjects and adding a bokeh effect in portrait mode. Neon lights appear more vibrant in low-light images, and there is less noise in dark environments. Macro shots, even at 6x zoom, have excellent details, and as a result, you don’t need to get super close to your subject to get good-looking macro photos, like the sample above. You can check out more shots here.
In all these scenarios, you get better-looking photos than with an iPhone with just a single tap. I wish Apple would introduce such camera processing in portraits, macro and low-light modes.
2. Add more battery capacity
The Oppo Find X9 Pro packs a huge 7,500-mAh battery, which is significantly larger than the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s 5,018mAh, according to Apple’s EU website. In CNET’s lab testing, the 17 Pro Max performed at the top of all our tests when it debuted in September. It’s worth noting that since Apple controls the hardware, software, and processor design, the company is able to eke out more power efficiency than Android phone makers.
I am someone who consistently uses their phone for more than 8 hours every day. While the Find X9 Pro doesn’t deliver double the battery life of my iPhone 17 Pro Max, I haven’t been able to kill it in a single day. If you’re a moderate phone user, you can expect it to last up to two days on a single charge.
In fact, the Find X9 Pro performed the best we’ve ever seen on CNET’s streaming video battery test, just edging out the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s result of 91%. As Andrew Lanxon, CNET’s lead photographer and editor-at-large, wrote in his Find X9 Pro review, «After 3 hours of streaming video on YouTube, the phone dropped from 100% to only 92%. The iPhone 17 Pro dropped to 85% after the same amount of time, while the Pixel 10 Pro XL dropped all the way to 76%.» And even if it is running low on battery, you can fast charge it at 80 watts as compared to the iPhone 17 Pro’s 40-watt fast charging.
Part of the reason behind the Oppo’s stellar battery life is its sheer capacity. The Find X9 Pro has a silicon-carbon battery, which allows for more battery capacity in the same space as a lower-capacity lithium-ion battery — like the one found in iPhones. I want Apple to borrow this silicon-carbon battery tech for its next iPhone, so I can be out and about without carrying my power bank on long days. It’d be a godsend for travels. Can you imagine the kind of battery life an iPhone Pro Max would get with a 7,500-mAh battery?
3. More miscellaneous additions for the iPhone
There are a few other things that I love on my Oppo Find X9 Pro and wish I had on my iPhone 17 Pro Max. These are:
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Multifunction Action Button: Apple has stuck to a double-press shortcut for the Action button, which feels limiting. I want to be able to use my shortcut as well as silence my phone using that button. Oppo allows you to add two functionalities to its AI Plus Key with a long press to record voice notes and a single press to save a screenshot in its «Mind Space.» I don’t want a Mind Space on my iPhone, but it’d be cool to similarly assign two shortcuts to a button.
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Expandable folders on home screen: I’ve loved this ability on Honor’s MagicOS, and similarly like it on Oppo’s ColorOS. My go-to home screen setup features a folder with five apps, expanded to provide one-tap access to three of them. It makes my home screen look organized with grouped apps and yet retains the instant access ability of a single app.
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Upgraded quality in Live Photos: I have Live Photos turned on because it provides a behind-the-scenes look at the raw emotions captured in my photos. It is also great for Reels and TikToks, where you can turn them into mini clips to add to your short videos. But I wish Apple would give these converted mini clips the same quality as its videos. Currently, they appear to be of low resolution and have a lower frame rate. However, on the Oppo Find X9 Pro, you can convert Live Photos into 4K videos, which is ideal for creating short-form content.
The iPhone 17 Pro is a great device for prosumers, but I’m sure most consumers would love to have these Find X9 Pro features on their Apple device. From better-looking portraits to iOS improvements, my wishlist for the next iPhone is ready. I hope Apple delivers.
Editors’ note: The author’s travel costs related to the launch of the Oppo Find X9 Pro were covered by Oppo. The judgments and opinions of CNET are our own.
