The ultimate camera showdown: Oppo Find X8 Ultra vs iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL

Three flagship camera beasts—Oppo Find X8 Ultra, iPhone 16 Pro Max, and the Pixel 9 Pro XL.

Apple and Pixel are all about that software magic to make photos pop. Oppo, on the other hand, has gone full send on hardware, flexing its muscle hard.

Both Pixel and Oppo have 50MP main sensors, while the iPhone plays it safe with 48MP.

But if we’re talking raw specs, Oppo’s stacked—a massive 1-inch 50MP main sensor, two stabilised 50MP periscope zooms at 3x and 6x, plus a 50MP ultrawide.

And yeah, it’s got that Hasselblad colour science sprinkled in too.

To keep things fair, every photo was shot in default mode—iPhone on Standard, Oppo on Original, Pixel on Auto.

No filters. No edits. What you see is exactly what came out of the camera.

Main Camera

Let’s start with the main cameras.

Oppo’s 1-inch 50MP sensor is an absolute detail monster and the background blur is straight-up DSLR vibes. But yeah, the colours felt a bit too cranked at times—definitely on the saturated side.

The iPhone’s 48MP sensor felt the most balanced and produced realistic colours, sharp output, and it shoots 24MP by default. So naturally the images were super clean, super consistent.

Pixel’s 50MP sensor held its own, but some shots came out underexposed, especially in tricky lighting conditions.

Out of the three, the iPhone definitely had the most natural-looking results.

Ultra-wide

Now let’s talk ultra-wide.

Oppo’s 50MP ultrawide is super detailed, no doubt. But the skin tones leaned way too warm, and for some bizarre reason, it totally crushed the shadows.

Pixel had similar issues with the shadows. For the most part the details were pretty, but in low light, the shots turned out kinda dull and washed out.

iPhone handled it the best—natural colours, controlled shadows, and easily the cleanest, most balanced ultra-wide shots out of the three.

Zoom

Now this is where things get interesting — the zoom capabilities.

Pixel rocks a 48MP 5X periscope, the iPhone keeps it basic with a 12MP 5X, and Oppo goes wild with two 50MP periscope lenses at 3X and 6X.

Up to 5X, Pixel and iPhone crop digitally, so yeah, you start losing a lot of detail.

Oppo, on the other hand, stays sharp. Even at 6X, the shots were crisp, although the colours started to feel a bit off.

At 10X and even 20X, Oppo’s photos were still totally usable. And just for fun, we went full 120X on a billboard—the text was actually readable. It wasn’t the the prettiest shot, but definitely useful in a pinch.

So yeah, the Oppo absolutely dominates when it comes to zoom.

Low Light

In low light, Oppo took the lead again. That massive 1-inch sensor pulled in tons of detail, and even the zoom shots stayed sharp and clean.

But it was the ultrawide that struggled—under street lights, there was a lot of lens flare, which kinda ruined the vibe.

Pixel wasn’t far behind in the flare department, and we also saw a slight green tint creep in too.

Still, the main and 5X cameras handled low light pretty well.

iPhone gave me the darkest shots, but honestly? They looked the most natural—no weird flares or colour shifts, just real-life vibes.

Video

Let’s talk video — and this is where the differences really showed up.

All three phones shoot 4K at 60fps, and both iPhone and Oppo support Dolby Vision HDR, which adds that extra cinematic pop. Pixel does 8K at 30fps, but it’s through cloud upscaling—so not exactly native.

iPhone’s footage was the cleanest—vibrant, natural, and super polished. Pixel killed it with stabilisation, but the clips looked a bit underexposed. Oppo’s footage was flat and over-sharpened, and the highlights were totally blown out.

On the front cam, Pixel stayed super steady, but gave me yellow-ish skin tones. iPhone looked the most true to life, though not as stable. Oppo went overboard with processing—the detail was there, but it felt too artificial.

In low light, Pixel came out on top, iPhone got a little grainy, and Oppo looked clean but kinda lifeless—like it stripped out all the mood.

Also, only iPhone and Oppo support 4K 120fps slow-mo. The Pixel is limited to 1080p 240fps.

Selfies

Now for the front cameras — iPhone rocks a 12MP, Oppo comes in with 32MP, and Pixel leads the pack with 42MP.

Good news though — all three have autofocus, so you’re not stuck with blurry selfies.

Oppo’s selfies were sharp and vibrant, no doubt, but the skin tones came out a bit too warm.

iPhone was actually a surprise — solid detail, though the shots felt slightly underexposed.

Pixel easily took the win — crisp detail, balanced colours, and exposure that was totally on point.

Portrait

Portrait mode really showed off each phone’s personality.

Oppo’s 3X portraits looked stunning—smooth skin, dreamy background blur, and great detail. But at 6X, the colours fell flat, and the magic kinda faded.

Pixel’s output was super consistent—natural skin tones, sharp edges, but the bokeh looked a bit artificial. iPhone delivered the sharpest results, no doubt, but the focus occasionally missed, especially around the edges.

Macro

All three phones handled macros pretty well, but Oppo clearly came out on top.

iPhone and Pixel used their ultrawide cameras to get those super close-up shots, but the moment you zoomed in, the detail started to fall apart.

Oppo, on the other hand, used its 3X telephoto to snap sharp macros, and even at 6X, the close-ups looked super crisp—clear shots without needing to get right up in the subject’s face.

Verdict

If I had to pick the best camera phone out of these three, my vote goes to the Oppo Find X8 Ultra. I’m all in on those punchy colours, the dreamy depth from that 1-inch sensor, and those insane telephoto lenses—top-tier versatility.

This time, hardware straight-up beat software.

But if we’re being practical, the iPhone 16 Pro Max technically wins this shootout—because unlike the Oppo, both the iPhone and the Pixel 9 Pro XL are actually available in India.

The Oppo Find X8 Ultra is still China-exclusive, and honestly, that’s a shame. Because this phone isn’t just about cameras—it’s got the whole package.

We’re talking a stunning matte finish, a 6.82-inch QHD+ LTPO AMOLED display, the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, up to 16GB RAM, 1TB storage, and a massive 6100mAh battery with 100W fast charging.

It’s an absolute beast—and if it ever launches in India, I’d be first in line.