The foldable phone market is about to get a new addition, with the reveal of the Oppo Find N – a new flagship handset, launching in China today.
Oppo has been developing the handset for four years and has gone through six generations of prototypes to get to this final device.
Here’s the pricing for the Oppo Find N:
8GB model with 256GB storage – CNY¥7,699
12GB model with 512GB storage – CNY¥8,999
This works out to around £911/$1,209 for the 8GB model and £1,065/$1,413 for the 12GB model – significantly undercutting rival foldable phones from Samsung, Huawei and even Xiaomi’s Mi Mix Fold. The phone is available to pre-order from today, and hits shelves on 23 December 2021.
However, it will currently only release in mainland China. The company has not confirmed whether the Find N will hit global markets at a later date.
Unveiled at the company’s annual Inno Day event, the Find N opens into a landscape display, with an unusual 8.4:9 aspect ratio – perfect for reading, gaming and watching videos on the go. It comes in a choice of three colours: purple, white and black, with a 3D-curved, compact design when folded.
The phone features a 7.1in inner display and a 5.49in outer display. The foldable screen is supported by what Oppo calls a ‘Flexion Hinge’, meaning that users can tilt the phone at any angle between 50 and 120 degrees, to suit their preference or need.
The TUV-approved screen features a 0.03mm layer of ‘Flexion UTG’ (ultra-thin glass), which has been tested to withstand being folded and unfolded up to 200,000 times, with minimal visible creasing, according to Oppo. The inner display features a dynamic refresh rate of 1Hz up to 120Hz and a touch sampling rate of up to 180Hz on the main screen. and 240Hz on the secondary screen.
Oppo is making the most of the larger display, with the ability to use split-screen or floating windows for certain apps. However, the company has not confirmed if this ability will work on popular third-party apps, such as iQIYI (China’s answer to Netflix).
In addition, users can continue to use the same software on the more compact, outer display as they were on the inner one by swiping upwards when the phone is folded.
The foldable factor isn’t the only thing that makes this phone a flagship. The Oppo Find N also comes with a triple-camera set-up – led by a 50Mp Sony IMX766 main sensor. This is joined by a 16Mp ultrawide angle lens and a 13Mp telephoto lens, as well as selfie cameras on both displays.
The phone runs on a Snapdragon 888 chip, as also used by the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. This is paired with 8GB/12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 256GB/512GB of storage and Android 11 running on ColorOS. Under the hood, there’s a 4500mAh battery, which is complemented by 33W fast charging, 15W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging.
If this phone does eventually release globally, it could be a huge opportunity for Oppo to challenge the leading brand in the foldable space, Samsung.
The Oppo Find N wasn’t the only thing announced at the Inno Day event. The Oppo Air Glass is an assisted reality (aR) headset also coming to the Chinese market. Oppo’s brand new MariSilicon X NPU image processing chip was also unveiled – a piece of tech that will feature in the Find X4 series, due to release globally in Q1, 2022.
Oppo’s new foldable could be joined by other flagships in the next year or so, with rumours circulating about the Google Pixel Fold and even a foldable iPhone.
