In the competitive landscape of flagship smartphones, Oppo has released the Find X9s — a mid-cycle refresh that, at S$1,299, asks the same price as its predecessor while quietly removing wireless charging and downgrading the very camera hardware that defined the original's appeal. It is a curious moment in consumer technology: not a failure of engineering, but a failure of intention. The refresh invites us to consider how progress is measured, and whether a newer number on a product name is enough to justify the cost of what is lost.
Oppo Find X9s: A Puzzling Refresh That Costs More While Offering Less
A phone that removes features while asking the same price
Mark
Why would Oppo price the X9s identically to the X9 when it removes features?
Mimi
That's the central mystery. The wireless charging alone is a convenience many users rely on. Removing it without lowering the price suggests either a cost-cutting measure that wasn't passed to consumers, or a miscalculation about what people actually value.
Mark
Is the camera downgrade significant enough that most users would notice?
Mimi
In good light, probably not. But the removal of those auxiliary sensors—the monochrome and spectral ones—that's a real loss for low-light photography. The smaller aperture compounds the problem. Casual shooters might not see it, but anyone who shoots in restaurants or at night will feel the difference.
Mark
What about the processor upgrade? Doesn't that count for something?
Mimi
In theory, yes. But in practice, the difference between the Dimensity 9500 and 9500s is imperceptible in daily use. Apps open at the same speed. Gaming feels identical. It's the kind of upgrade that looks good on a spec sheet but doesn't translate to a better experience.
Mark
So who is this phone actually for?
Mimi
That's the real question. It's not for photo enthusiasts, because they lose sensors and aperture. It's not for people who use wireless charging. It's not for content creators, who lose professional video modes. It's a phone for someone who wants the Find X9 but doesn't know the Find X9 exists—or doesn't care about any of those features.
Mark
Will the older model's price drop make this worse?
Mimi
Almost certainly. As the X9 clears inventory, street prices will fall. At that point, there's almost no scenario where the X9s makes financial sense. You're paying the same or more for less.
Mark
Is it a bad phone?
Mimi
No. It's competent. It works well. But competence isn't enough when you're asking the same price as a phone that does more. That's the puzzle.
The Pulse
- Oppo's Find X9s arrives at the same S$1,299 price as the original Find X9, yet ships without wireless charging and with a smaller main camera aperture — a regression dressed as a refresh.
- The removal of monochrome and spectral auxiliary sensors quietly undermines low-light photography and color accuracy, hitting hardest the photo enthusiasts and content creators the Find series was built to attract.
- A newer MediaTek Dimensity 9500s chip offers almost no perceptible speed gain in daily use, leaving the processor upgrade as the refresh's sole headline improvement with little real-world payoff.
- The front camera drops from 50 to 32 megapixels and loses professional video modes, cutting off vloggers and creators from tools they had come to rely on.
- With street prices on the older Find X9 set to fall as inventory clears, the value gap between the two phones is only widening — making the X9s an increasingly difficult proposition to defend.
In the competitive landscape of flagship smartphones, Oppo has released the Find X9s — a mid-cycle refresh that, at S$1,299, asks the same price as its predecessor while quietly removing wireless charging and downgrading the very camera hardware that defined the original's appeal. It is a curious moment in consumer technology: not a failure of engineering, but a failure of intention. The refresh invites us to consider how progress is measured, and whether a newer number on a product name is enough to justify the cost of what is lost.
Oppo has released a phone that is difficult to explain. The Find X9s is a mid-cycle refresh of last year's well-regarded flagship, priced identically at S$1,299 — yet it arrives with fewer features than the device it is meant to succeed.
On the outside, almost nothing has changed. The same 6.59-inch flat AMOLED display, the same slim 202-gram build, the same impressive IP66, IP68, and IP69 water resistance ratings. Hold the X9s next to the X9 and you would struggle to tell them apart. The 7,025mAh battery and 80W wired charging remain, filling the phone in under an hour.
But the differences beneath the surface are hard to overlook. Wireless charging — a 50W convenience that the original supported — is gone entirely. The processor has been updated to the MediaTek Dimensity 9500s, though in practice the improvement is imperceptible. Apps, multitasking, and gaming all feel identical to the previous model.
The camera changes are where the refresh becomes genuinely puzzling. The main sensor's aperture has been narrowed from f1.6 to f1.8, reducing light intake and weakening low-light performance. The monochrome and spectral auxiliary sensors that helped the Find X9 fine-tune color and detail have been removed. The front camera drops from 50 to 32 megapixels, and professional video modes for selfie recording disappear — a meaningful loss for content creators.
In good light, the X9s still produces clean, Hasselblad-tuned images with accurate skin tones. The 3x telephoto is sharp, and the ultrawide holds up well. But in mixed or low light, the missing sensors and narrower aperture become real liabilities, with patchy color processing and less precise portrait edge detection.
At the same price as the original, the Find X9s is simply the harder choice. The older Find X9 offers a larger sensor, higher-resolution front camera, wireless charging, and superior color-tuning hardware — and its street price will likely fall faster as stock clears. The X9s is a competent phone, but one that asks you to pay the same for less. In a market where value is everything, that is a difficult position to hold.
Oppo has released a puzzle wrapped in a phone. The Find X9s, a mid-cycle refresh of last year's well-regarded flagship, costs exactly the same as its predecessor—S$1,299 for the 16GB RAM, 512GB storage variant—while somehow managing to offer less of what made the original worth buying. It's a rare kind of misstep: not a bad phone, but a baffling one.
On the surface, nothing has changed. The Find X9s carries the same 6.59-inch flat AMOLED display, the same slim profile, the same 202-gram weight that makes it feel light in the hand despite the 7,025mAh battery tucked inside. The phone still slips into pockets without complaint. The build quality remains solid, with IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings that mean you can take it through rain and splashes without worry. Hold it, and you'd struggle to tell it apart from the X9.
But underneath, Oppo has made a series of choices that seem designed to confuse rather than improve. The most immediate casualty is wireless charging. The original Find X9 supported 50W wireless charging—the kind of convenience that lets you drop your phone on a mat at your desk or bedside. The X9s strips this away entirely, leaving only the 80W wired charger, which does fill the battery in under an hour but removes an option that many users have come to expect. The processor has been updated to the newer MediaTek Dimensity 9500s, but in actual use, the difference is negligible. Apps open at the same speed. Multitasking feels identical. Gaming performs just as well. For most people, the day-to-day experience is indistinguishable from the phone it replaces.
The camera changes are where the refresh becomes genuinely puzzling. The rear triple-camera setup still consists of three 50-megapixel sensors, but the main sensor has been downgraded from f1.6 to f1.8 aperture, meaning less light reaches the sensor and low-light performance suffers. More significantly, Oppo has removed the monochrome and spectral auxiliary sensors that the Find X9 used to fine-tune color and detail in complex lighting. The front camera has dropped from 50 megapixels to 32 megapixels, and the X9s loses professional video mode and zoom features for selfie recording—a notable loss for anyone creating content. Both phones can still record 4K video at 60 frames per second, but the X9s offers fewer creative tools for vloggers and creators who want control over exposure and focus.
In good light, the Find X9s produces clean, detailed photos with natural colors. The Hasselblad tuning keeps skin tones accurate and avoids the oversaturation that plagues some competitors. The 3x telephoto lens is sharp for portraits, and the ultrawide captures plenty of detail. But in low light, the smaller aperture and missing auxiliary sensors become liabilities. Without those extra sensors to help with white balance and contrast, the phone struggles in mixed-light scenes. Portrait edge detection becomes less precise against busy backgrounds. Some images show patchy color processing or minor artifacts. For best results, you need to stick to well-lit subjects and avoid extreme shadows. The optical image stabilization on the main and telephoto lenses keeps video steady at 4K 60fps, but the absence of professional video modes on the front camera is a genuine miss for creators.
The pricing makes this all the more difficult to defend. At S$1,299, the original Find X9 is simply the better buy. It has the larger main sensor with f1.6 aperture, the higher-resolution 50-megapixel front camera, wireless charging, and those extra camera sensors that improve color accuracy and edge detection. Street prices for the older model will likely drop faster as inventory clears, making the value proposition even more lopsided. The Find X9s makes sense only if you actively don't care about wireless charging or can live with the camera downgrades. For anyone who takes photos seriously or has grown accustomed to wireless charging at home or in the office, the original phone offers more for the same money.
Oppo has created a competent phone that is nonetheless hard to recommend. It's the kind of refresh that makes you wonder what the company was thinking—a device that removes features and downgrades capabilities while asking the same price as the phone it replaces. In a market where value matters, that's a difficult position to defend.
Notable Quotes
The Find X9s makes sense only if you do not care about wireless charging or the camera downgrades. For most buyers, especially those who take a lot of photos or use wireless chargers at home, the original Find X9 offers more for the same money.— Review analysis
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