Oppo’s annual Inno Day tech event seems to be the gift that keeps on giving this year, with our first real look at the company’s debut foldable, the Oppo Find N, making its debut on day two.
After months of rumours, the company is finally ready to show off its first-ever foldable, which takes a slightly different approach to its most like-minded rivals in some ways.
When does the Oppo Find N launch?
about its first folding smartphone a week before its annual Inno Day event, which serves to showcase the company’s burgeoning technologies and, sometimes, forthcoming products.
Once 15 December rolled around, the company was actually ready to unveil the Find N in all its glory and with it, the company confirmed pre-orders would kick-off on the same day, with an on-sale date of 23 December. And for those overseas fans curious, for the time being, the Find N unlikely to see a launch outside of the company’s native China.
It should be noted that the Find N is different to the rollable Oppo X 2021, which is an official concept phone. That device features a revolutionary scrolling display, powered by motors that glide the expanding surface into place.
How much does the Oppo Find N cost?
In the day’s leading up to the Find N’s reveal, established tipster Abishek Yadav shared (via Twitter) what appeared to be leaked local Chinese pricing (along with some key – subsequently confirmed – specs, adding credence to the leak).
However, now that the cat if officially out of the bag, Oppo has apparently shattered expectations, by undercutting even its most aggressively-priced rival, Xiaomi’s Mi Mix Fold, which launched in China back in April for just CNY¥9,999.
What was expected to cost from CNY¥12,999, actually starts at just CNY¥7,699 (which directly converts to £910/€1,070/US$1,210/INR₹92,030/AUD$1,670) for the 8GB RAM, 256GB storage model, while the top-spec 12GB RAM, 512GB SKU looks set to hit the Chinese market at only CNY¥8,999 (equivalent to £1,065/€1,255/US$1,415/INR₹107,595/AUD$1,985).
For reference, here’s how much the other most prominent foldables on the market cost at launch:
As you’d expect, all of these cutting-edge devices cost a lot. Foldables are still such new technology, that the price of entry will remain high for a while yet; so expect to pay over the £1,000/$1,000 mark, should the Find N defy expectations and make its way to shores beyond China’s own. For those locally, though, this looks to be a real steal.
What features does the Oppo Find N have?
While the Find N adopts the familiar book-style vertical folding form factor used by the likes of the Mate X2, Mi Mix Fold and Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3, it sports an unorthodox aspect ratio for the style; resulting in a more conventional smartphone silhouette when closed.
The main 7.1in display’s 8.4:9 aspect ratio is supposedly better suited to gaming and enjoying media than the narrower, taller forms found on some of its competitors. Oppo’s also optimised its software to allow for split-screen multitasking using a two-finger swipe-down gesture on the dynamic 120Hz LTPO display (meaning it can scale its refresh rate right down to 1Hz, to conserve power).
Oppo calls the hinge it’s built for the Find N the ‘Flexion Hinge’ and – similarly to the Z Fold series – it’s rated for some 200,000 folds/unfolds. The display is designed to naturally bunch and tuck up inside the Find N when closed (similarly to Motorola’s Razr 5G), resulting in a gap between the two edges of the closed display that’s apparently 80% less prominent – according to TUV Rheinland (an independent testing and quality assurance body) – “compared to other devices”; while the crease when the Find N is open and flat is meant to be less noticeable too.
The Flexion Hinge can also be positioned at any point within a range of 50 to 120 degrees in what Oppo has called ‘FlexForm Mode’. In this mode, you can use the partially folded Find N to both see the camera’s viewfinder and review shots you’ve just taken simultaneously, set up a 4K HD time-lapse, tripod-free, type notes more conveniently and take video calls hands-free.
Here’s the Oppo Find N’s full spec sheet:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC
- 8GB or 12GB LPDDR5 RAM
- 256GB or 512GB UFS 3.1 storage (non-expandable)
- 5.49in 18:9 (1972×988) 60Hz outer display (w/ up to 240Hz touch sampling rate)
- 7.1in 8.4:9 WUSXGA (1792×1920) dynamic LTPO 120Hz AMOLED ‘Serene Display’
- 0.03mm ‘Flexion’ UTG (ultra-thin glass)
- Up to 180Hz touch-sampling rate
- Up to 800nits brightness
- 370ppi pixel density
- Rear cameras:
- 50Mp Sony IMX766 f/1.8 84° main sensor w/ OIS
- 16Mp f/2.2 123° ultrawide sensor
- 13Mp f/2.4 45° telephoto sensor
- 32Mp f/2.4 81° front-facing hole-punch camera (both internal and external display)
- Android 11 w/ ColorOS 12
- Ceramic camera plate
- Gorilla Glass Victus back panel
- Side-mounted fingerprint sensor/power key
- Face unlock
- Stereo speakers w/ Dolby Atmos
- X-axis linear motor
- Bluetooth 5.2
- 5G
- NFC
- USB-C
- 4500mAh battery
- 33W SuperVOOC wired charging (55% in 30 minutes, 100% in 70 minutes)
- 15W AirVOOC wireless charging (Qi also supported)
- 10W reverse wireless charging
- Colours: Black, white, purple
Despite its foldable form factor, the Find N’s Gorilla Glass Victus body adopts an aesthetic remeniscent of the company’s current Find X3 Pro flagship, demonstrating Oppo’s “fluid curve design language,” while the phone’s rear triple camera module is protected by a ceramic plate.
Check out episode 95 of our weekly podcast Fast Charge, where we discussed the initial official reveal of the Oppo Find N:
One other thing we have seen from Oppo recently is how it will approach foldable technology going forward, with the company showing off at the 4th China International Industrial Design Expo, in December 2020.
This device uses three foldable screens, attached by hinges, that allow the user to unfurl the display to the height they prefer. There’s also a stylus contained within one of the segments to allow note-taking and other pen-based tasks.
The above concept phone is obviously still far from a reality, but it could be a sign of things to come from future iterations of the Find N.