Oppo Find X9 Pro crushes Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 3x telephoto in side-by-side camera test

Oppo recently launched the Find X9 Pro in China and is set to bring it to global markets on October 28. One of the highlights of this phone — at least in terms of numbers — is its 200MP 3x periscope telephoto camera. The module uses Samsung’s ISOCELL HP5 sensor, which measures 1/1.56″ in size.

In comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra still relies on a 10MP sensor for its 3x telephoto camera, measuring just 1/3.52″. The upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra is also rumored to retain most of the same camera hardware as its predecessor. Ice Universe even claimed a downgrade for the 3x telephoto — from 1/3.52″ on the current flagship to 1/3.94″ on the upcoming model, most likely the one used on the base S25. So, it’s worth checking out how the S25 Ultra fares against its Chinese rival — this time, the Find X9 Pro.

Well-known tipster Ice Universe recently posted a side-by-side comparison of 3x telephoto samples from the two phones, showing how those specs translate into real-world results.

At first glance, the images don’t look dramatically different — except for the variation in bokeh. But upon closer inspection, there’s a clear, night-and-day difference in detail — which is exactly the point of having a telephoto camera in the first place. The textures on the leaf and the insect’s body are almost unrecognizable in the S Ultra’s sample.

The results stand in stark contrast to Samsung’s own claims about the imaging prowess of its flagships. “Samsung has always been one step ahead, pushing mobile photography to new heights and ushering in a new era of Galaxy camera technology,” the company noted in its newsroom. It will be interesting to see how much the S26 Ultra can close the gap when it goes up against the next wave of Chinese ultra-flagships — including the Find X9 Ultra and Vivo X300 Ultra — which rely on both cutting-edge hardware and smarter image processing.

Until then, interested readers can also check out the main camera comparison with Vivo’s X300 and the previous telephoto showdown with the X300 Pro.

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