OnePlus is dead. The enthusiast-focused brand turned Oppo for the rest of the world was shuttered, ironically only for the rest of the world, earlier this year and its memory loomed large over my past few weeks using the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max. For as great is this phone is, it’s a sad reminder that phones like these are going to be lacking in some parts of the world going forward, and that’s a crying shame.
The Oppo Find X10 Pro Max is a beast on paper, though not quite the Find X9 Ultra I fell head over heels for earlier this year. To quickly summarize what you’re getting here (specifically for the EU variant):
- 6.78-inch AMOLED display (144Hz, LTPO, 3,600 nits peak brightness, 3,840Hz PWM)
- MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro
- 12GB RAM
- 512GB UFS 4.1
- 7,150 mAh battery
- 80W wired/50W wireless charging (no Qi2 magnets)
- Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor + camera-based face unlock
- Cameras: 200MP main, 200MP 13mm ultrawide, 200MP 70mm (3x optical) telephoto, 50MP front-facing
By basically every measurement, a true flagship. The cameras, as mentioned, aren’t quite at the level of the Find X9 Ultra, but it’s still impressive to see three 200MP sensors on board here.
And those cameras perform very well.
Oppo touts killer video from this setup, including 4K/60fps, 4K/120fps, and 8K/30fps from every rear-facing lens, as well as improvements to HDR and stabilization. These can certainly go a long way in creator spaces, and I was impressed at the quality even in more casual use cases. Oppo worked with Instagram, for example, to improve uploads from the Find X10 series and the results speak for themselves.
As per usual, I found myself mostly using the camera here for stills, and I still find myself loving the experience of shooting on an Oppo flagship. Shots are generally crisp and clean, and the app is very easy to use despite all of the options it builds in. Compared to the Ultra I last used, I found myself wishing the telephoto lens had more range, as the 3x optical zoom quickly felt its limits kicking in. Oppo supports up to 120x hybrid zoom, but the quality falls off long before that, and the AI-powered enhancements really struggle to bridge the gap on anything beyond 10x. I wish the company had just used a 5x lens here rather than 3x. Still, most shots I took were excellent, and that 3x lens is the best shooter of the bunch, producing excellent natural bokeh in its shots. The 200MP sensor and Oppo’s software go a long way in ensuring that anything in the 3x-8x range, give or take, comes out at full quality. Not to mention the color processing – it nailed the colors of an absolutely gorgeous sunset I captured a couple of weeks ago. My Pixel would never.
Adding on Oppo’s 10x teleconverter takes the whole thing up a notch, with levels of natural bokeh that just aren’t achievable on a smartphone otherwise. It’s not as crisp as a “real” camera with the same lens setup, but the results are often stunning.
But, outside of the camera, how does the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max hold up?
Frankly, very well.
The hardware itself is fantastic. I reviewed the “Lumos White” trim which is a tiny bit lighter than others, but it’s still a fairly hefty phone regardless. I don’t mind the weight, though, when a phone is delivering powerful camera hardware. The same goes for the camera bump which pops out of the back quite a ways. I do loathe that Oppo opted for this dual-size camera bump where the main square off to the left is taller than the secondary bump used to house the flash and color-focused camera lens. It results in a phone that rocks back and forth on a table when not in a case, despite such an obvious solution sitting right there. It’s annoying, but I do appreciate other touches here such as the knurling around the camera lens and the splash of orange from the Hasselblad partnership (though the little ridge picks up dust like crazy).
This is where I’ll throw in the mention that I found myself using Oppo’s carbon fiber case throughout my entire review period, not because I felt the phone needed a case, but because this is yet another Android flagship forgoing built-in Qi2 magnets. The excuses are just lame at this point, especially with Oppo pretty heavily investing in magnetic accessories. It’s getting old saying this in every review, but I’m going to keep bringing it up until it becomes the standard it should be.
The frame has power and volume buttons off to the right side and they’re as tactile and satisfying as ever, while a “Snap Key” on the opposite side is a blatant clone of Apple’s Action Button, right down to the UI used to customize it. Still, I appreciate the shortcut and use it for the flashlight/torch, but I wish Oppo would take this up a notch with single-press and double-press actions, rather than limiting it solely to the long-press that Apple uses. While we’re on that topic, I wish Oppo would finally adopt the double-press power button gesture for activating the camera in global markets. This phone has a great camera, but lacking this shortcut is an absolute pain.
The display is gorgeous, as you’d expect from any modern flagship, and the built-in screen protector has held up remarkably well over roughly a month of use.
As for the software, ColorOS 17 very much leans into the whole Liquid Glass clone trend, and I’m not a fan. But, to Oppo’s credit, you can easily tone down the transparency to get a much more visually pleasing design. That won’t change the Apple copycat looks found throughout system apps, but it makes it a much better experience on the whole.
I’ve always been more of a fan of Pixel UI and even One UI over most Chinese Android skins, but ColorOS has grown on me. Once you get over the initial learning curve, it’s a very user-friendly experience in so many ineffable ways. It’s truly hard to describe why it’s a pleasure to use, but I find myself with fewer complaints. They’re still there, of course – just a couple of quick hitters: Notification icons disappear inconsistently, the lockscreen shows notifications on top of the fingerprint icon which leads to a lot of misclicks, etc – but I find myself overall still feeling comfortable using ColorOS nowadays.
And it runs smooth just as promised. That’s probably in part thanks to Oppo’s continued optimizations, but also the MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro under the hood. The chip also stays cool. I threw everything from high-GPS use, 90°F days to video exports and more at this phone, and it never once warmed up even a little bit. Are we missing out without these MediaTek flagships in the States? Maybe!
Finally, let’s talk battery life.
The silicon-carbon battery here gives the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max a whopping 7,150 mAh battery in the EU, and the endurance rocks. This is not quite a 2-day phone in my testing thus far, but even heavy days won’t kill it. Whether I was running hotspots, editing videos, or playing games, Find X10 Pro Max never ended a day below 30%. I would imagine the 8,000 mAh version found in other regional variants pushes it over the edge of being a 2-day phone, but the point is you’ll be happy with this battery life. And, thanks to speedy SuperVOOC and USB-C PD charging on board, I never found myself needing to plug this phone in overnight. It almost acts like a smartwatch – a quick charge while I’m in the shower and getting ready for the day has been plenty to keep it topped off most of the time.
And after using all of that for a few weeks, I’m just about as sad about the situation surrounding this phone as I have been happy in using it.
The end of OnePlus means that Oppo phones like this one simply aren’t coming Stateside anymore. Of course, OnePlus’ versions were typically diluted compared to Oppo’s anyway (and that’s even true with the OnePlus 16), but it was better than nothing. It’s increasingly frustrating to be losing out on devices like these in the States, because Android brands like Oppo have been massively stepping up on quality in recent years.
Pricing, though, is against this one. In Europe, the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max is €1,799. That’s a crazy amount of money for a smartphone that doesn’t fold.
If you live in a region where the Find X10 series is for sale, I think you’ll be thrilled by the Pro Max. The standard Find X10 Pro is not one to sleep on either. It’s a bit smaller despite having the same battery, and the cameras aren’t too far behind.
The Oppo Find X10 Pro Max is a complete package, with excellent cameras and battery life, and speedy software.
Pros
- Triple 200MP cameras
- Excellent battery life
- ColorOS is quietly one of the best Android skins
Cons
- Smaller battery on EU models
- No Qi2 magnets
- Very high pricing
More on Oppo:
- Oppo confirms list of devices getting its Android 17 update, rollout starts this month
- Oppo Find N7, the wide one, reportedly has a 7.6-inch display with less of a crease
- Review: Oppo Find X9 Ultra isn’t perfect, but it makes me want to ditch my Pixel anyway
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