Andrew Heinzman
After years of work and several canceled prototypes, Oppo is finally launching its first foldable phone. The unfortunately-named Oppo Find N arrives December 15th for an unknown price, and although the phone isn’t guaranteed to be a success, it hints at the future of both Oppo and its famous sub-brand, OnePlus.
Oppo chief product officer (and OnePlus CEO) Pete Lau announced the Find N in a flowery blog post early on December 9th. He makes some bold claims about the phone—its screen won’t have a big distracting crease, its hinge will be the “best” available today, and it won’t break on a dime like Samsung’s foldables.
This is the exquisitely engineered #OPPOFindN.
Hold. Fold. Enjoy. Repeat.
Coming December 15. #OPPOINNODAY2021 pic.twitter.com/LVZKNgYiAv— OPPO (@oppo) December 9, 2021
While these statements feel a bit overblown (we’ll find out on December 15th), they show how Oppo understands the foldable phone business and its pitfalls. Notably, it seems that Oppo is competing with Samsung on display tech. Most manufacturers just order their foldable screens from Samsung, a process that leads to clone products, not unique products. (To be clear, Oppo hasn’t revealed its display supplier.)
So what does this tell us about the future of Oppo or OnePlus? Well, these companies may become innovative leaders in the smartphone world, much like Apple and Samsung. Working on a single product for six years takes a lot of resources, and if Pete Lau’s claims are true, the Find N will leapfrog Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 with improved durability and display tech.
Of course, the Find N may not live up to Pete Lau’s promises. We’ve only seen the phone in a short promotional video (shown above), so we don’t really know if its display has a crease or not. If we want to see the future of Oppo and OnePlus, we’ll simply need to wait for the Find N launch event on December 15th.
