- Kyle Chua
Oppo Shares First Look at Foldable Flagship Ahead of Inno Day Launch Event
Oppo is a little late to the foldable party, but as they say, better late than never, right? The Chinese phone maker has shared the first look at its foldable flagship, the Find N, ahead of next week’s launch event.
The company’s CEO Pete Lau said in a blog post that it’s "better to launch a product at a later date when it is ready to offer a great user experience instead of simply rushing to keep up with trends," indirectly referencing how foldables from other brands didn’t have smooth launches. He added that the new phone was four years in the making.
While Oppo has yet to share specs and details, the 15-second teaser the company posted shows that the phone's design is very much reminiscent of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold3, which unfolds like a book. It similarly has displays on both sides of the body – a small outer panel and a larger tablet-like internal panel. Perhaps the only difference between the two phones, from what we can see right now, is that the displays on the Find N seem to be completely seamless when folded, whereas, in the Z Fold, there’s a tiny gap.
We’ll likely have to wait until Inno Day 2021, where the phone is expected to be fully revealed, to learn more. The launch event is scheduled to take place on 14 and 15 December.
Foldables haven’t exactly taken off as many have expected a few years ago and there are two reasons why: they’re expensive and fragile. Samsung’s foldables, for example, have yet to reach a price point that can be considered reasonable for the majority of consumers around the world. Not everyone is willing to give up an arm and a leg to have foldable technology. Not to mention, there are still some lingering durability issues that have yet to be fixed. If the Find N can address these, it’ll probably get a leg up on the likes of Samsung and Huawei, among other competing brands in the foldable space.
Along with its first foldable phone, Oppo is additionally expected to debut its first Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and new smart glasses. Other technologies to be showcased include a retractable camera, a digital human and various innovations in AI, AR and 5G.
The company also announced that you can experience the launch event via a metaverse-esque virtual platform, where you can control an avatar and roam the Inno Day 2021 online venue.