Oppo’s Find X6 Pro is the latest smartphone to get a massive 1-inch camera sensor

Oppo has joined the likes of Xiaomi and sister-company Vivo by including a massive 1-inch-type camera sensor in its latest smartphone, the Find X6 Pro, which is launching in China today alongside the regular Find X6. It also didn’t skimp on the telephoto and ultrawide camera specs.

In China, the Find X6 Pro starts at 5999 yuan (around $872) for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, rising to 6999 yuan (around $1017) for 16GB RAM and 512GB of storage. Meanwhile the non-Pro Find X6 starts at 4499 yuan (around $654) for 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage. A spokesperson for the company was unwilling to confirm whether the X6 phones will see a broader international release in the future.

The Find X6 Pro’s primary camera is the star of the show, and uses Sony’s 50-megapixel 1-inch-type IMX989 sensor. But Oppo wants you to know that it hasn’t forgotten about the secondary telephoto and ultrawide cameras on the phone. Oppo claims that the 50-megapixel 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX890 sensors used for its ultrawide and periscope cameras are “larger than any wide-angle camera to date” and “the largest sensor of any smartphone telephoto camera on the market,” respectively. That sensor is as big as what Samsung uses for the main camera on its recent Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus phones, for reference.

Obviously, sensor size is far from the be-all-and-end-all when it comes to image quality, especially when most smartphones rely so heavily on software in their photography (in fact, here’s an excellent piece from my colleague Allison that examines the strengths and limitations of large camera sensors). So Oppo also has some software features up its sleeve like a Hasselblad collaboration, which has resulted in a portrait mode on the Find X6 Pro that’s designed to emulate the “colors and depth of field” of the Swedish camera manufacturer’s XCD30 and XCD80 lenses.

Rounding out the camera specs, the Find X6 Pro’s ultrawide camera has a 110-degree field of view, f/2.2 aperture, and can handle macro-esque photography with a minimum focus distance of 4cm. Meanwhile the Periscope telephoto camera offers 3x optical zoom and a 6x hybrid zoom. 

Away from the cameras, which are contained within a massive circular camera bump on the rear of the phone, the Find X6 Pro offers a suitably flagship set of specs. It’s powered by Qualcomm’s latest flagship processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and has a 5,000mAh battery that can be fast charged at 100W with a cable and 50W wirelessly.

It also has a 6.82-inch 120Hz OLED display with a peak brightness of 2500 nits (Oppo says this is its “brightest ever smartphone screen”) and a hole-punch cutout for its 32-megapixel selfie camera. It’s got an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, and comes with a choice of 12GB or 16GB of RAM, and 256GB or 512GB of storage. 

Today’s launch is just for the Chinese market, and for the time being Oppo isn’t announcing an international launch for either the Find X6 Pro nor the step down Find X6. That’s a departure from the Oppo Find X5 Pro, which was sold in European as well as Asia.