The most effective digital camera telephone of 2025 that you could’t purchase

I’ve been ready a very long time for this, however lastly, I spent a while with the OPPO Discover X8 Extremely. I used to be a massive fan of the Discover X8 Professional that preceded it, particularly its digital camera capabilities, and the Extremely builds on that, so I used to be keen to present it a spin.

Sadly, that is the Chinese language mannequin so there are just a few caveats to what I might check, as among the AI capabilities received’t work in different areas. However that additionally exposes this telephone’s largest disadvantage — you possibly can’t purchase it exterior mainland China. Let’s dive in and see what we’re lacking.

The Discover X8 Extremely ditches the retro two-tone vegan leather-based rear that the Discover X7 Extremely had final yr. I wasn’t the largest fan of this design, so it’s an total optimistic in my e-book. OPPO has additionally rounded the edges of this telephone and added a pleasant matte end on the again, which I vastly choose. The flat show is one other optimistic, with a 6.8-inch stretch, 120Hz refresh price, and a peak brightness of two,500 nits. The colours actually pop when watching content material on the Extremely.

One other optimistic is the upgraded fingerprint reader. OPPO ditched the optical fingerprint reader on the Discover X7 Extremely for an ultrasonic various that works very well. The Discover X8 Extremely additionally packs an IP68/69 water resistance ranking, which is able to shield your telephone from sizzling jets of water.

Let’s discuss internals. The OPPO Discover X8 Extremely is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the identical chip you’ll discover on a gaggle of flagships in 2025. Concerning benchmarks, it’s just about hitting the numbers you’d count on from a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. Something you throw at this, it’s principally going to deal with with ease.

My different massive favourite characteristic on this telephone is its battery, particularly the 6,100mAh silicon-carbon battery. Let me inform you, this telephone is hard to kill. Within the days I’ve been utilizing it, there hasn’t been a day the place it has dipped underneath 30%, until I’m actually pushing it. The Discover X8 Extremely is an immensely spectacular smartphone contemplating the general design and {hardware} bundle.

However not every little thing is nice information, and the apparent one is that pesky concern of availability. Should you’re seeking to choose up the Discover X8 Extremely, you’ll discover it extremely troublesome. I requested OPPO if it could launch exterior China anytime quickly, and the reply wasn’t promising. I wouldn’t maintain your breath for a worldwide launch of this.

Let me deal with one other disappointment with the Discover X8 Extremely: the lacking alert slider. OPPO changed it with a singular shortcut button, just like Apple’s Motion Button. You may assign it to carry out actions like muting, turning on the flashlight, and others. Nevertheless, you possibly can’t set it to open any app you need, so that you’re restricted to OPPO’s default choices. That falls effectively in need of Apple’s capabilities.

It could possibly additionally open the digital camera, which is odd as a result of there’s a devoted button for fast digital camera controls. I wasn’t a fan of this button on the Discover X8 Professional, and I nonetheless discover it missing on the Discover X8 Extremely. OPPO hasn’t improved it, which is disappointing on this pricier model of the gadget. A double faucet opens the digital camera, and it’s a touch-sensitive button that permits you to zoom out and in when taking photographs. The zooming is first rate, nevertheless it solely works in panorama mode, not portrait. A single press takes photographs, however you possibly can’t swap modes or change digital camera settings, even in professional mode. This button is ill-conceived, and its unrealized potential makes its addition so irritating.

Button apart, and on a optimistic notice, the digital camera efficiency on the Discover X8 Extremely is spectacular. There are 4 devoted lenses: a 50MP ultrawide, two 50MP optical telephoto lenses (with 3x and 6x zoom ranges), and a standout 50MP one-inch sensor main digital camera. This snapper has a 69% bigger sensor than the S25 Extremely’s and 63% bigger than the iPhone 16 Professional Max’s. The distinction is noticeable, particularly in low mild. You may also take JPEG Max photographs in grasp mode, using the one-inch sensor.

Sure, this main digital camera is spectacular. The small print are correct, and the dynamic vary is incredible. The photographs look lifelike, with no oversaturation. This may be considered one of my favourite telephone cameras in 2025. The AI zoom after 30x is surprisingly good, particularly for buildings, creating usable particulars. The 50MP ultrawide is equally spectacular, capturing nice particulars regardless of some oversaturation.

I additionally love the 6x optical zoom outcomes. The small print are among the finest I’ve seen in a very long time. The photographs are barely over-sharpened and barely too saturated, however I can overlook that. I’ve taken many pictures with the 6x optical lens and love the outcomes, particularly with the telemacro means. The small print are nice, and the over-sharpening doesn’t happen in macro mode.

As for video, I nonetheless imagine that the iPhone is one of the best, however OPPO has completed an incredible job. It might probably match the iPhone and be one of the best Android video telephone. You may report at 4K60, with an replace coming for 4K120, matching the body price potential of the iPhone 16 Professional Max. The stabilization is sort of gimbal-like, buttery clean. Switching between lenses is often tough, however OPPO has made it practically seamless, with solely slight colour shifting. The video particulars are glorious, too. In daylight, it handles effectively, and in nighttime video, it performs excellently, with nice shadows and minimal noise. This may be my go-to Android video choice proper now.

Try all of the photograph samples I took within the video embedded on the prime of this evaluate.

You might need guessed it already, however I really like the Discover X8 Extremely, even with the foolish button points and quirks. The issue is that this telephone is just not obtainable within the US. In reality, it’s not obtainable wherever exterior of China, at the very least at this level, which is a crying disgrace. To get your palms on considered one of these, you’ll must import it, and typically, resulting from worth and provider compatibility, that’s simply not definitely worth the effort.

I do have to present credit score right here to OPPO, because it has completed what vivo and Xiaomi are additionally doing with their Extremely-tier flagships — maintain pushing for what is feasible, particularly with their cameras. I hope that, in flip, this makes Samsung, Google, and even Apple take notice and cease enjoying it protected relating to their flagship releases.