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Oppo Says Its Find X6 Pro Phone Doesn't Have a Main Camera

Instead, the company says, all three of the rear cameras on the Find X6 Pro have main camera qualities.

Sareena Dayaram Senior Editor
Sareena is a senior editor for CNET covering the mobile beat including device reviews. She is a seasoned multimedia journalist with more than a decade's worth of experience producing stories for television and digital publications across Asia's financial capitals including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Mumbai. Prior to CNET, Sareena worked at CNN as a news writer and Reuters as a producer.
Expertise Huawei, Oppo, smartphones, smartwatches Credentials
  • More than a decade of journalism experience
Sareena Dayaram
4 min read
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Oppo

Oppo's first flagship series of 2023 has arrived. The Chinese company on Tuesday in China unveiled the Find X6 series, ushering in what it calls an "all-new three main cameras era," moving past a focus on a single main camera among smartphones.

The higher-end Find X6 Pro features a trio of 50-megapixel rear cameras, which Oppo co-developed with Hasselblad. It's made up of a wide-angle camera complete with a large 1-inch sensor, a periscope-style telephoto camera that Oppo says has the largest sensor of any smartphone telephoto camera, and an ultrawide camera that can make detail-filled macro images. The Find X6 Pro uses a glass and aluminum lens cover, which Oppo says is drop and corrosion resistant to protect the three cameras housed inside. On the front side, housed in a punch-hole notch, is a 32-megapixel selfie camera.

Apart from the camera system, Oppo made sure to pack its Find X6 Pro with features intended to make it a compelling Android flagship in 2023. The Find X6 Pro has the brightest phone screen on perhaps any commercially sold phone (2,500 nits), a cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen Plus 2 processor, a large battery and fast charging in both wireless and wired capacities, which promises to revitalize the device's dead battery in 30 minutes and 51 minutes respectively.

Oppo seems to have made efforts to create a durable flagship too. The front display uses Corning's newest Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which apparently improved drop protection by up to 30% -- whatever that means. It also has an IP68 rating for water- and dust-resistance, which means it's protected from dust getting inside and can withstand being submerged in water. Samsung's Galaxy S23 lineup has the same rating. So does the iPhone 14 lineup. Oppo says the battery will retain 80% of original capacity after four years despite fast charging.

back side of oppo phone

You're looking at the vegan leather finish of the Oppo Find X6 Pro. There are two other available colors.

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Oppo says there are no plans to release the Find X6 series internationally. Ahead of its China launch, Oppo sent me the Chinese version of the Find X6 Pro. In the limited time I had with the phone, I focused on testing the rear camera module, the headline feature of this device. No pricing details were made available at the time of this writing.

Find X6 Pro's ultrawide camera

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The Find X6 Pro has a 120Hz display.

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The 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera is located on the upper right of the circular camera bump. It has a focal length equivalent of 15mm and a f/2.2 aperture. One of my favorite ways to use this camera was macro mode. I've long been a fan of Oppo's Macro mode, and this time around was no exception. It's easy to take closeup shots, and the camera can swiftly auto-focus on your subject whether it's light or dark. I was amazed that this phone could take lovely macro images in low light using the ultrawide camera, and it gave long-distance photos a beautiful natural depth of field. Scroll down past the text to see the cameras in action.

Find X6 Pro's telephoto camera

The Find X6 Pro has a periscope style-telephoto lens, which has a large Sony IMX 980 sensor and an aperture of f/2.6, which Oppo says is the largest of any periscope-style telephoto camera. Telephoto cameras are crucial for taking clear pictures of faraway subjects -- and the one of the Find X6 Pro is impressive. You can see some samples if you scroll down. The Find X6 Pro allows for 3x optical zoom and 120x digital zoom. For context, the iPhone 14 Pro Max has 3x optical zoom and 15x digital zoom, while Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra has 10x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom.

Find X6 Pro's wide camera

Although Oppo says there is no main camera, the wide camera is the head-turner from the pack. That's mostly because the wide camera uses Sony's IMX 989 sensor, a 1-inch sensor that's perhaps the largest sensor size found currently on a smartphone. That said, packing a larger sensor emerged as something of a trend in recent years year. The Sony IMX 989 is the same 1-inch sensor found on the Sony Xperia Pro-I, Xiaomi's 12S Ultra, and Vivo's X90 Pro flagship phone. A 1-inch camera sensor isn't actually 1 inch big, but it's certainly on the larger side for a phone camera. What's commendable is that Oppo was able to fit a 1-inch sensor into a phone body that's roughly the same thickness as an iPhone 1 Pro Max, but more than 20 grams lighter. 

A larger sensor means a wider dynamic range and improved low-light performance for both photos and videos. Oppo says the Find X6 Pro's sensor is 156% larger than the Find X5 Pro, it can take in as much as 142% more light. I can't independently verify that statement, but in my experience with this camera, it took wonderful photos in both dark and light conditions. Apart from the larger sensor, the ultrawide camera also has a f/1.8 aperture. Right below you'll find some photos taken with the Find X6 Pro as well as a specs sheet.

buildings and sea

Taken on default settings. 

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buildings against the sea

6x optical zoom example. Zoomed in from the image above.

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A spherical Moroccan lamp on a marble tabletop

Portrait shot taken of this Moroccan lamp. Notice the depth of field and how the lamp is subtly made to be the focus of this image. 

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A spherical brass Moroccan lamp

Even though this was taken in a dark room, the camera manages to capture the intricate detail of this Moroccan lamp. It's also color accurate.

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A bougainvillea flower

Example of macro mode. Notice the veins on the petals of the bougainvillea.

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Closeup of a leafy plant

Macro photo taken in a dark room

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Wallet on a sheet, photographed with a Find X6 Pro

Compare the colors of this image with the one below, which was taken with the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Which one do you like better?

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Wallet on a sheet, photographed with an iPhone 14 Pro Max

This image was taken with my iPhone 14 Pro Max. I think it captures a clearer image than the Find X6 Pro and is more color accurate.

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landscape in hong kong
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green mountain top in hong kong

Example of 6x digital zoom. Notice how crisp the image remains despite how far zoomed in this image is compared to the image above.

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Oppo Find X6 Pro specs


Find X6 Pro
Display size, resolution, refresh rate 6.82-inch AMOLED (3,168x1,440 pixels)
Pixel density 510ppi
Dimensions (Millimeters) 164.8mm × 76.3mm × 9.5mm (vegan leather)
Weight (Ounces, Grams) 216g 218g
Mobile software Android 13
Camera 50-megapixel (wide), 50-megapixel (ultrawide), 50 megapixel (telephoto)
Front-facing camera 32-megapixel
Video capture 4K
Processor Snapdragon 8 Gen Plus 2
Storage/RAM 12GB+256GB (only for black and green version) • 16GB+256GB • 16GB+512GB
Expandable storage None
Battery/Charger 5,000 mAh
Fingerprint sensor Display
Connector USB-C
Headphone jack None
Special features 3x optical zoom, 120x digital zoom, IP68 rating, fast charging
Price TBC