Chinese smartphone manufacture Oppo will hold its Inno Day event next week. That’s where we expect to see plenty of new devices and technologies. We’ve already addressed rumors about the first-gen Oppo foldable phone, and the company already teased its retractable camera design. But with a few days to go until the press conferences, Oppo confirmed the Find N foldable handset without revealing all of its secrets.
The Oppo Find N is the newest device to challenge the Galaxy Z Fold 3, featuring a similar design. The main foldable screen sits on the inside, with an external display available to the user when the handset is folded. It’s a stunning new device and we’ll tell you everything there is to know about it.
The Oppo Find N
Taking a page from OnePlus’s way of announcing flagship phones, Oppo released a blog-like announcement detailing the Oppo Find N foldable smartphone. It’s actually former OnePlus CEO Pete Lau who penned the post. The exec is now the chief product officer at Oppo.
The exec said the foldable is the result of four years of work and the sixth prototype since the company started development. Lau says the reason why Oppo is turning to foldable devices is that the smartphone industry “has hit a wall,” after more than a decade of rapid development:
Whether it’s fast charging, high refresh rates, mobile photography covering several focal lengths, or 5G connectivity, smartphone development has reached a limit that requires new ways of thinking and new approaches to continue innovating.
A foldable device will not inherently advance any of these smartphone features, however. The Oppo Find N won’t deliver better refresh rates, better camera features, faster 5G, or faster charging just because the phone can fold.
Lau also said that Oppo had a first-gen Find N prototype ready in April 2018. But that device wasn’t ready for mass consumption. He then took a shot at Samsung, the company that launched a faulty first-gen Fold version, without explicitly naming it:
Although a handful of other brands have already introduced foldable devices to the market, barriers such as utility, durability and user experience continue to prevent foldable devices from becoming a more feasible daily driver for most people.
Key questions remain
The exec did not reveal too many details about the Oppo Find N, however. Instead, he mused about the phone’s beauty and ease of use. But he did tease that Oppo will unveil a few key innovations for foldable handsets, and they concern the hinge and display:
With the Find N, we have solved the main pain points in previous foldable smartphones, such as the crease in the display and overall durability of the device, by inventing perhaps the best hinge and display designs available today. We look forward to truly pushing the folding screen experience forward.
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 also stands out for its improved durability. We’d expect the Oppo Find N to at least match Samsung’s foldable. As for the crease, that’s indeed a problem that smartphone makers have yet to figure out.
That said, Lau did not reveal other key aspects of the handset. We don’t know the specs, the price, release date, or whether or not it’ll be available in the US. But the following images give us an idea of how big the Oppo Find N will be:
OPPO Find N Very cute size pic.twitter.com/cfco2Ea6Be
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) December 9, 2021
The exec said the Oppo Find N foldable announcement will come on December 15th, during the second day of Oppo’s Inno Day event.
