Oppo launches the flagship Find X9 Ultra smartphone later today. Comparing it to a 13-year-old Samsung Galaxy shows how far innovation has come.

The world of phones moves so fast that it’s easy to get used to each new normal and grumble about tiny things we think should be better – both as tech journalists and phone fans.

Sure, the Find X9 Ultra might have a big camera module and arrive as one of the heaviest flagships of 2026, but it’s interesting to look back and see how far things have come in the last decade.

Oppo fitting a 10x optical telephoto camera into the phone looks all the more impressive when compared to the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. Oppo isn’t the first to do this in a phone, but it’s a useful comparison to make, even though the Galaxy S23 Ultra with its 10x camera is a more obvious parallel.

The Galaxy S4 Zoom launched all the way back in 2013, 13 years ago, as a smartphone/camera hybrid. From the back, it looked like many other compact point-and-shoot cameras around at the time but, from the front, it was an Android phone.

Samsung

Importantly, it had a motorised telescopic zoom lens which allowed it to zoom at up to 10x. Yes, the Galaxy Camera came before it, but only had 3x optical zoom and wasn’t also a phone.

Looking at the Oppo Find X9 Ultra next to the Galaxy S4 Zoom, you have to applaud the engineers for making this possible – alongside the other impressive camera specs.

Chris Martin / Foundry

Not only is the Ultra capable of 10x zoom without any moving parts or attachments, but it also outpaces that old Galaxy in a plethora of ways, from the sensor resolution and size to aperture.

In fact, Oppo says it’s the world’s first 50Mp, 10x optical zoom in a phone, made possible in part by its Quintuple Prism Reflection Periscope Structure.

Here’s a fun little table comparing the two phones. Bravo, Oppo, bravo.