This new Android phone almost beat my favorite smartphone camera of 2024

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra is my favorite camera phone of 2024, but the arrival of the Oppo Find X8 Pro impressed me enough during my first few days with it that I wondered if I’d chosen my winner for the year a little too early.

There was only one way to find out, and that was through a good old-fashioned camera shootout. I love doing them, especially when both cameras are this good.

The camera specifications

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra is an absolute camera superstar. It has a 50-megapixel main camera with a variable, step-less f/1.6 to f/4.0 aperture and optical image stabilization, along with a pair of 50MP telephoto cameras for both a 3.2x and a 5x optical zoom, complete with optical image stabilization. A 50MP wide-angle camera completes the lineup, with camera experts Leica adding the lenses and a host of software enhancements.

The Oppo Find X8 Pro also has a range of 50MP cameras, starting with a 50MP main camera with optical image stabilization and an f/1.6 aperture. There are two telephoto cameras with optical image stabilization, providing either a 3x or a 6x optical zoom. A 50MP wide-angle camera finishes off the hardware, while it’s Hasselblad providing some of the software enhancements for the Oppo phone.

Both phones use different flagship processors, which will also affect camera performance. The Xiaomi 14 Ultra has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, while the Oppo Find X8 Pro has the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chip inside. Examined like this, the two phones appear quite similar, but there is a price difference that may affect the results. The Oppo Find X8 Pro has launched at 1,049 British pounds (about $1,332), while the Xiaomi 14 Ultra was released for 1,299 pounds (about $1,650).

That’s a significant cost difference, and it suggests that Oppo isn’t specifically targeting the Xiaomi 14 Ultra with the Find X8 Pro. However, it wouldn’t be the first time a smartphone has punched well above its weight. Let’s see how it does against the best phone camera I’ve used in 2024.

Main camera

There are some fascinating and unexpected differences between the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s and Find X8 Pro’s main cameras, and I’ve picked photos that really show off how the two perform. The first is the sunrise taken out of a window, hence the slight visible reflections in both. The Find X8 Pro’s treatment of the sun is spot-on, showing a deep orange glow compared to the 14 Ultra’s white-hot center. The buildings, although bathed in shadow, are sharper and more defined in the X8 Pro’s photo, too. Get ready for this to be a continuing trend.

The second photo of the church with the sun behind it reveals the amount of processing both cameras use to get the shot. Xiaomi’s camera eases up on the HDR effect compared to the Find X8 Pro, getting the balance just right and taking a photo representative of the conditions. The Oppo phone’s heavy-handed processing makes it less realistic, but I love the definition of the grass and path, which is muddy and smoothed over in Xiaomi’s photo.

Another photo in challenging light shows how the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s variable aperture assists in getting a great shot. The detail, colors, balance, and dynamic range are all far superior, resulting in a photo that looks like it did in real life. Oppo’s camera can’t re-create the scene in the same way and relies on HDR to balance the photo, but this doesn’t seem to work.

In the final photo, you can see the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s richer colors and greater ability to bring out detail, along with its sharp focus and depth of field. While the Oppo Find X8 Pro’s camera has taken sharper photos so far than the Xiaomi phone, it sometimes struggles to match it, as shown here.

Throughout my time with both phones, the Find X8 Pro often managed to outshine the Xiaomi 14 Ultra by showing more detail outside, but inside and in varying lighting conditions, the Xiaomi phone usually improved over it. However, as in the photo of the sunrise, the Oppo phone showed it can still take excellent photos with its main camera.

Winner: Xiaomi 14 Ultra

Telephoto cameras

The two telephoto cameras vary a little on each phone, with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra using a 3.2x and 5x telephoto compared to the Find X8 Pro’s 3x and 6x telephoto. You’ll see in the examples there’s not much difference in terms of visible area from any of the cameras, so one is not any more versatile than the other.

Once again, at the 3x/3.2x zoom, the Find X8 Pro’s wonderful sharpness is immediately visible. The boat’s name, the surface of the water, and the neon letters on the front of the building are pin-sharp in the Find X8 Pro’s photo, while there is some blur and muddiness in Xiaomi’s photo. However, I prefer the colors, shadows, and tone in the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s photo.

When you use the 3x/3.2x zoom on a subject indoors or with difficult lighting, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra shows its prowess again, just like it did in the main camera examples. The cat’s fur is so detailed and defined in Xiaomi’s photo, and the color is far more natural, too. The Find X8 Pro’s photo can’t compare, and gets confused with the individual hairs.

The photo of the pub sign — taken at 5x and 6x — also shows how much more capable the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s camera is in terms of color and dynamic range. What’s interesting here is the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s photo doesn’t look like a telephoto image, while the Find X8 Pro’s image, unfortunately, shows the negative traits many associate with zoom cameras on phones and lacks the realism and consistency of Xiaomi’s photo.

There’s no escaping the Oppo Find X8 Pro’s overall sharpness in any of its telephoto images, but it never quite matches Xiaomi’s beautiful tone and colors. The photo of the clock shows the tone differences and also how Xiaomi’s camera copes with low light better when using the zoom cameras. This is a very close category, and I often liked photos taken with the Find X8 Pro, but the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s camera was more consistent.

Winner: Xiaomi 14 Ultra

Wide-angle camera

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s wide-angle camera has never been its strongest point, and this category arguably represents the Oppo Find X8 Pro’s best chance of scoring a win. You’ll immediately notice the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s wider angle, though, giving its photos a greater sense of scale. Starting out with the photo of the canal, the Find X8 Pro’s photo is less noisy, and both the water and the buildings are sharper.

This is all repeated in the photo of the bikes in the city center. Xiaomi’s wide-angle camera muddies details and smudges the background, which stays sharp and defined in Oppo’s photo. Even though the Find X8 Pro does over-process the image, it brings out the color and balances the shadows more effectively than the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s camera.

The wide-angle camera is the worst part of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, and the Oppo Find X8 Pro shows how poor it is. This isn’t to say the Find X8 Pro’s wide-angle is merely passable, as it takes good-looking photos with a consistent look to the main camera. This was the Find X8 Pro’s first chance to shine and has easily beaten the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

Winner: Oppo Find X8 Pro

Night mode

For a phone camera to take good photos at night, it needs the processor, the software, and the hardware to all come together perfectly. Surprisingly, the negative aspects of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s camera are amplified in low light. The first photo captured the bright lights extending into the sky, but the Find X8 Pro’s image is sharper, less noisy, and more detailed. In Xiaomi’s quest to brighten the image, it has introduced more noise, while the Find X8 Pro gets the balance just right.

This is also noticeable when taking wide-angle photos at night, and even without cropping the image down, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s muddy, unfocussed image is obviously of worse quality than the Oppo Find X8 Pro’s photo. For a wide-angle shot in low light, the Find X8 Pro does a really good job.

While Xiaomi’s camera has consistently returned a more pleasing, accurate range of colors and tones, things take a surprising turn when taking photos at night. The overly yellow, far warmer tones in the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s photo of the boats and buildings aren’t very realistic, while the Find X8 Pro’s photo is considerably cooler. I think the ideal photo lies somewhere between the two, but the Find X8 Pro’s detailed, less-noisy photo is definitely more visually pleasing than the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s.

All this gives us a surprise win for the Oppo Find X8 Pro and suggests the MediaTek Dimensity 9400, which is newer and more technically advanced than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, successfully works very hard to maintain the sharpness seen throughout the Find X8 Pro’s cameras, without making night images look like daylight or introducing noise.

Is the Xiaomi 14 Ultra still my favorite camera phone?

When I went into this camera test, I wondered if the Oppo Find X8 Pro would give the Xiaomi 14 Ultra a serious challenge, and I wasn’t disappointed. The two phones have both won two categories each, making the test a tie. I’ve been really impressed with the sharpness of the Find X8 Pro’s photos and a little disappointed in the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s lack of detail and increased smoothing.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s camera isn’t perfect, and it didn’t become my favorite camera phone of the year because it took the absolute greatest photos every single time. It’s about the tone, colors, and treatment of different scenes I love, and that’s still something that’s lacking in the Find X8 Pro’s camera despite Hasselblad’s involvement. However, the overall result is closer than I expected, and considering the Find X8 Pro’s lower price, it’s an easy recommendation.

However, you can’t add a special case and use a 67mm filter to the Oppo Find X8 Pro’s camera, and often, it’s not about technical prowess, but the emotions a photograph conveys. That’s where the Xiaomi 14 Ultra camera beats the Find X8 Pro for me. However, if I only had the Find X8 Pro in my pocket, I wouldn’t be questioning whether it would take a good photo or not. The test may be a tie, but that represents a serious win for the Find X8 Pro’s camera.