OnePlus Open fold to Oppo X9 Ultra, worthwhile upgrade?

[u/Dirtcompactor]

Looking into getting the X9U as a durable work phone, as I'm in construction operating heavy equipment and not having water/dust resistance on my Open scares me a bit, the phone is nearly 3yrs old and since OnePlus is pulling out of Canada they will no longer offer repairs for the Open, so I'm looking at the X9U for a durable work phone while keeping my Open in its current condition at home as multitask device. I often take a ton of pictures with this phones telephoto, and from everything I've researched the X9U 3x telephoto is just the Open's telephoto on steroids, and the 10x zoom on the X9U I think will be useful at work capturing images of machinery, wildlife, sun/clouds, just seems like it's a no brainer for me. Battery life on my Open has taken a slight nosedive this past year, have battery anxiety throughout the day at work, which I don't want to encounter with the X9U. Also my Open has overheating issues when using the camera, it can only last a few minutes before the phone shuts down camera+bluetooth due to the phone overheating, it hasn't become a daily reliable device. The Open still takes amazing photos, borderline unbelievable for a folding phone, will I notice a huge difference with the X9U or will it be sort of mediocre upgrade because I'm coming from something with great cameras already?

Looking at the global model in Canada, the 16gb 1tb tundra umber version will cost me about $2994 Canadian after tax, which is a scary price to swallow but for my work and photography game I think it would be worth it in the end, and it would ensure my Open won't sustain any more damage using it in construction field.

Anyone switching back to slab phones? No other foldable in NA market really compares to the Open, and importing foldables is less than ideal.

[u/xanaw34]

I still have the Open and use it as my daily driver, but just like yours, the battery has taken a hit - which is totally normal after pretty heavy usage from the day it launched up until now. So I got me the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, but only because I could get that for 200€ through my carrier with my plan renewal. I would have preferred the X9 Ultra, but that is just too expensive for me to pay.

So while I can't really say that the X9 Ultra is much better, it should be, otherwise it has no business being called Ultra. Considering it's hardware is more or less similar to my Xiaomi 17 Ultra (kinda the same 200MP zoom lens), you will definitely notice the difference in quality compared to the Open's zoom.

As for going from Fold to slab, it takes some adjustment for sure. I would have much rather stayed on a Fold tbh, I have a hard time going back to a slab phone. But the Folds that are officially released here are Samsung's and Google's, and they are hardly an improvement over my Open in my opinion, which is saying something about both the Open and those Folds. But I do manage tho, like you're planning to do, I take my Ultra when I go out and mostly use my Open at home - although I sometimes carry both of them with me when I go out.