Which camera phone should you get?

The Sony Xperia 1 VIII is designed to “support the joy of everyday photography”, and promises a healthier upgrade than before.

While we’ve highlighted everything new about Sony’s flagship in our Sony Xperia 1 VIII vs Xperia 1 VII guide, we’d also like to see how it stacks up against the five-star Oppo Find X9 Ultra. Considering we hailed Oppo’s camera as a “huge success and absolute power”, the Sony Xperia 1 VIII has a lot to live up to.

We compared the Xperia 1 VIII with the Oppo Find X9 Ultra and noted the main differences – and any notable similarities – between the two Android phones below.

Read on to see how the Xperia 1 VIII compares to the Find X9 Ultra. Once you’re done here, be sure to visit our roundup of the best Android phones and the best cameras.

Features Comparison Table

Price and Availability

The Sony Xperia 1 VIII is currently available for pre-order and will be officially launched in mid-June. It comes in two size options, 256GB or 1TB, and has a starting RRP of £1399/€1499.

In comparison, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra is available to buy now and has a slightly higher starting price of £1449.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra has a very large battery

With a capacity of 7050mAh, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra boasts the world’s largest battery, but what does that really mean in real-world terms? We found that on less demanding days without much scrolling, the Find X9 Ultra ran out for days with around 60-70% battery left. Even on busy days of taking lots of photos, playing heavy games and other general use, the phone rarely dipped below 40%.

This means the handset can easily see you on day two without needing to be added, although this will depend on your personal usage.

In comparison, the Sony Xperia 1 VIII is equipped with a smaller 5000mAh battery – the same as the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. Despite the standard size, Sony promises that the phone should see two days of battery life. We will have to wait until we review the handset to confirm those claims, however it is worth noting that Sony promised the same with the Xperia 1 VII and we found that, although it was possible, it was not easy to reach the second day.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra has five rear cameras

Both the Xperia 1 VIII and Find X9 Ultra’s headline feature is undoubtedly their camera setup. As mentioned earlier, Sony promises that the Xperia 1 VIII is designed to help users capture “better photos” and “support the joy of everyday photography”.

The Xperia 1 VIII is equipped with three 48MP rear lenses, including the main, ultrawide and a new telephoto four times larger than its predecessor. All three lenses, according to Sony, should deliver the same low-light performance as a full-frame sensor, allowing for sharp images even in dark conditions.

Otherwise, the Find X9 Ultra is equipped with four bright rear lenses, alongside a fifth “true color” camera that maintains white balance and tones aligned across the line. The four lenses include a 200MP main with a large f/1.5 aperture that captures plenty of light, a 200MP 3x telephoto, a 50MP 10x periscope and a 50MP ultrawide.

We didn’t have a bad word to say about the Find X9 Ultra’s cameras, with all the lenses performing very well. In fact, the 200MP 3x telephoto was a great performer, and we expect you’ll use it more than you’d expect.

Overall, the Find X9 Ultra takes beautifully detailed photos in all lighting conditions, and easily challenges Apple and Google’s flagships.

Both run on Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Unsurprisingly for Android flagships, both the Xperia 1 VIII and the Find X9 Ultra are equipped with Qualcomm’s high-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor. While we’re yet to review the Xperia 1 VIII, we’ve reviewed a number of phones sporting the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and they rarely leave us disappointed. With this in mind, we expect the Xperia 1 VIII to perform well.

Specifically inside the Find X9 Ultra, we had very few complaints about the performance of the handset. Everything from scrolling to deep gaming went as smoothly as we would have liked, with everything feeling smooth and responsive.

The Sony Xperia 1 VIII has a headphone jack and a newly designed speaker unit

Unlike the Find X9 Ultra, the Sony Xperia 1 VIII is equipped with a 3.5mm earphone jack that Sony explains enables superior audio support using wired headphones, thanks to the sound quality inherited from the Walkman.

In addition, the Xperia 1 VIII boasts newly developed left and right speaker units that are promised to deliver “continuous improvements in stereo performance”. Sony promises that the speakers reproduce voices and instruments clearer and richer than ever before.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra has a large and heavy display

With a 6.8-inch display, the Find X9 Ultra isn’t quite as thin as the 6.5-inch Xperia 1 VIII but is a bit shy of the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Size aside, we hailed the panel of the Find X9 Ultra as “medicine”, thanks to its QHD+ resolution, LTPO-enabled 120Hz refresh rate and surprisingly thin surrounding bezel.

Sony has kept things similar with this year’s Xperia 1 VIII, with the phone sporting the same FHD+ panel as its predecessor. This isn’t exactly a bad thing, as we concluded that the Xperia 1 VII’s screen is “hard to fault.”

Preliminary Decision

It’s hard to give a definitive verdict as we haven’t reviewed the Sony Xperia 1 VIII yet. However, with Sony promising a larger phone lens, better sound quality and a two-day battery, the Xperia 1 VIII is undoubtedly an attractive option.

Still, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra has really impressed us. Not only does it boast a very comprehensive camera setup, but its powerful battery easily provides two days of battery life while its 6.8-inch panel is a pleasure to use. Easily one of the best camera phones around, serious photographers and power users will struggle to find a better option than the Find X9 Ultra.

We’ll be sure to review this in comparison once we review the Xperia 1 VIII.