Chinese mobile gadget maker Oppo has announced the launch of a second-generation folding phone, plus its first challenge to Samsung's Flip. Both have launched in China, but the flip-style handset will become Oppo's first foldable to be released in global markets.
Oppo boasts that the successor to last year's Find N is the "lightest horizontally foldable smartphone in the industry" at 233 g (8.2 oz) for the version sporting black vegan leather, and when closed, the Find N2 comes in at a slim 14.6 mm (0.57 in).
The folding handset features the company's second-generation Flexion hinge, which has a smaller and thinner design than before, and has been made more robust. The number of components has been reduced to 100, which include carbon fiber and high-strength alloy, and it's been TUV-tested for at least 400,000 folding operations.
The improved design is said to result in a much less visible crease when folded out for the 7.1-inch, 1,920 x 1,792-resolution AMOLED display, and there's no gap when the handset is closed to present a thin-bezel 5.54-inch, 2,120 x 1,080-resolution smartphone-like AMOLED screen. Both displays have a refresh rate of 120 Hz and sport color temp sensors to auto adjust onscreen visuals to match ambient lighting. The inner display has a peak brightness of 1,550 nits while the outer screen tops out at 1,350 nits.
Inside, the Find N2 is built around Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 mobile platform with octa-core processing and integrated graphics, supported by up to 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. As well as 5G, the handset comes with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 (with support for aptX HD, LDAC and LHDC codecs), and it runs Oppo's ColorOS 13, which is built on Android 13. And there's a 4,520-mAh battery supporting 67-W fast charging.
The company has enhanced the split-screen experience, activated by a two-finger swipe down the center of the 7.1-inch screen – swiping three fingers down the left of the display will take a snapshot of the app running on that side, and similarly for the right side, but swiping three fingers down the middle capture the entire screen. A FlexForm mode allows the device to adopt a mini laptop stance for watching content on the top screen while using the bottom screen as a trackpad.
The triple camera array has been tuned by Hasselblad, and is made up of a 50-MP main module paired with a Sony IMX890 sensor and boasting optical image stabilization, a 49-MP ultra-wide and a 32-MP telephoto. A 32-MP selfiecam completes the Find N2's camera chops.
Oppo says that the Find N2 Flip has been three years in development, and is reported to be home to the largest cover screen on any flip-style handset at 720 x 382 pixels. This AMOLED display has a refresh rate of either 30- or 60-Hz and peak brightness of 900 nits, and users can view up to six notifications at once, as well as preview photos snapped on the "flagship-level camera system."
It also comes with the newest Flexion hinge, and when flipped out, users get a 6.8-inch, 2,520 x 1,080-resolution AMOLED display with a variable refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, plus peak brightness of 1,600 nits.
The phone is powered by a custom MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ chipset with octa-core processing at up to 3.2 GHz and integrated graphics. System support shapes up as 8/12/16 GB of RAM and 256/512 GB of storage. And again, this model runs Oppo's ColorOS 13 and 5G connectivity is joined by Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 (but this lacks LHDC codec support).
The rear camera array sports a 50-MP main and 8-MP super-wide, and there's a 32-MP selfiecam as well for 1,080p video chats at 30 frames per second. Finally, its 4,300-mAh battery is reckoned good for all-day usage, and supports 44-W fast charging.
The Find N series now clearly brings the foldable fight to Samsung, though with a more limited market reach – at least for one of the new phones. Both devices were unveiled at Oppo's annual Inno Day, and became available to the Chinese market straight after the announcement earlier today. The Find N2 Flip will roll out globally next year.
Product pages: Find N2, Find N2 Flip
There should be a decent market for a folding smart phone. Most smart phones are now too big to fit in a pocket and are susceptible to damage with the exposed screen.