Update | The OPPO Find X5 Pro is poised to debut as the world's first Dimensity 9000-powered flagship phone

Update: OPPO has now launched the Find X5 Pro Dimensity Edition along with the more predictable Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered version of the same phone today (February 24, 2022). However, one could wonder how the OEM calls this phone the world's first Dimensity 9000-based flagship when it is apparently only going on sale on the Chinese market.

It comes in 2 new Find X5-series finishes (Ceramic White and Glaze Black), although it has only one RAM/storage configuration (12/256GB). Otherwise, it has all the same specs - such as an IP68-rated chassis, a 120Hz LTPO 2.0 AMOLED display and a 50MP main rear camera - just without mention of the MariSilicon X NPU.  It will ship for 5,799 yuan (~US$915, or the same price as a new 12/512GB OnePlus 10 Pro Extreme Edition) from March 18, 2022.

Original Article: OPPO has now confirmed that the Find X5 series will launch soon, most likely in conjunction with MWC 2022. There has been some doubt and ambiguity as to the silicon on which these flagship vanilla and Pro variants will run. It has been posited that the OEM has hedged its bets a bit, as it has taken 2 potential prominent contenders, the Dimensity 9000 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, up for its new top-end line.

Now, OPPO has announced for the first time that this is the case: it has both top-end processors for the Find X3 and X3 Pro successors - which also had a different platform each themselves; now, it seems the same can be said for their successors.

The leaks and speculation about this newly confirmed possibility has also gone hand in hand with predictions that OPPO's newly-developed MariSilicon X co-processor is compatible with the 8 Gen 1 only, and the 9000-based Find X5 variant would thus have to do without this extra NPU and its supposed flashy features.

The OEM has also now indicated that this projection is also true: the "Find X5 Pro Dimensity Edition" has been teased in the absence of MariSilicon branding, whereas the Find X5 with an 8 Gen 1 has. Then again, OPPO has also hinted at a "Find X5 Pro dual-core imaging flagship phone" (in a Google-translated Weibo post), suggesting the phone will come with a choice of top-end chipset.

This might make sense in OPPO's case, as the Find X series is traditionally camera-focused and the co-processor is rated to boost performance in this area. Then again, it also seems it wants to be the first company to launch a flagship with the 9000, thanks to the second Pro edition.

As intriguing as this may be for many OPPO fans, it may also be bad news for those located outside China. Last-gen 1200-powered phones had a poor record of making it onto the global market; hopefully, the X5 Pro Dimensity Edition will not end up being a domestic exclusive, as with the X3.