Oppo’s new flagship phone, the Find X6 Pro boasts some beefy camera specifications, very fast charging and more, though it’ll be interesting to see when — and at what price — it reaches Australian shores. Update: Dang. Probably not.
In the Australian market, smartphone sales are typically dominated by just two brands — Apple and Samsung — but that hasn’t stopped a wide array of brands from having a red hot go. Oppo has for a long time sold itself as a value proposition, especially around its camera technology, while also offering premium options for those with fatter wallets.
That’s where the Oppo Find X6 Pro rather solidly sits. It’s a flagship phone just launched and first arriving in China — Oppo’s a Chinese company, this all makes sense — with some rather sweet specifications.
Oppo Find X6 Pro Specifications
| Oppo Find X6 Pro Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Screen Size | 6.82 inches |
| Resolution | 3168×1440 |
| Screen Type | AMOLED |
| Glass | Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 |
| RAM | 12GB/16GB RAM |
| Storage | 256GB/512GB |
| Storage Expansion | No |
| Primary Rear Camera | 50MP f/1.8 |
| Secondary Rear Camera | 50MP F/2.6 3x Optical Zoom |
| Tertiary Rear Camera | 50MP F/2.2 Ultra wide |
| Front Camera | 32MP f/2.4 |
| Operating System | Android 13/ColorOS 13.1 |
| Battery | 5000mAh |
| Charging | 100W wired, 50W wireless |
| Water Resistance | IP68 |
So, there’s a few interesting details here. As could be expected of a 2023 flagship, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor is present and correct — so far all we’ve seen locally on that score is the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra — with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM.
It’s a tad disappointing that storage expansion isn’t supported, but that’s the way of most flagship phones now. What is pleasing is the inclusion of IP68 water resistance. Oppo’s flagship phones have bounced around this year on year, with some having decent water resistance while others missed out.
Design-wise, there’s a choice of black or green glass, or “vegan leather” if you really must. I’m not a fan of that approach for smartphones, to be honest; it’s basically just plastic anyway, unless somewhere in an Oppo factory they’re actually skinning vegans, which I hope they’re not.
Still, like most flagship phones, the real story here is the camera array, with a trio of 50MP rear lenses to play with. As such there’s no “primary” lens to speak of, although there are differences in sensor size, with the standard wide lens using a Sony 1 inch IMX989 sensor — big, in simple terms for a smartphone sensor — while the telephoto and ultrawide lenses pack in 1/1.56 inch Sony IMX890 sensors.
That telephoto lens is 3x optical natively, and Oppo pushes that up to 6x with hybrid digital zoom, AKA in phone cropping. That’s an interesting play in the premium space where we’ve seen some really big zooms of late, though it could pay off in terms of image stability. While the obvious competitor Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra does tout up to 100x Space Zoom, the reality that I’ve always found is that even with a tripod, those 100x images aren’t much to speak about… when Samsung isn’t being a bit shifty about how you take moon photos with it, that is.
Alex’s Take: Oppo has typically delivered strong premium smartphones, and more than once they’ve made my favourite smartphone for a given year.
That could be the case for the Oppo Find X6 Pro, when and if it reaches Australian shores. In the BBK Electronics (Oppo’s parent company, also owner of OnePlus, Realme and Vivo) world, Australia’s often touted as a key market, but not one that sees Oppo phones all that quickly much of the time. We’re only now seeing the Oppo Find N2 Flip, for example, a phone that went on sale in China in late 2022.
Then there’s the price. The Find X6 Pro will retail in China starting at 5999 yuan for the 12GB RAM/256GB variant or 6999 yuan for the 16GB/512GB model according to reports. At current exchange rates that’d run to around $1300 AUD and $1525 AUD respectively.
I don’t expect to see them at those price points, though it would be nice. I don’t know a thing about Chinese tax rates, but we’d have to add GST to those prices most likely, plus shipping, plus a little profit to make it worthwhile for Oppo Australia to bother in the first place. We’re probably talking more like $1500 and $1800 outright at a pure guess.
Update: So, I reached out to Oppo Australia to see what the official position for the Find X6 Pro was. This is what Oppo Australia had to say:
“It’s great to see the interest and attention the OPPO Find X6 series is receiving around the globe and here in Australia. Currently, the Find X6 series is only scheduled for release in China with no plans for an international launch. Locally, we’re concentrating our efforts on our recently launched foldable smartphone as the priority for our ultra-premium, high-end product segment. We look forward to continuing to bring innovative products to Australia and will keep you updated on future plans.”
Which is basically a very polite “no”… or at least a “probably not”. You could always import, but if it truly is a China-only handset, that’s going to seriously limit its appeal, as it’d be the equivalent of Huawei’s phones locally, with no Google services at all built in.