Rumors around a foldable phone from Oppo have been swirling for months now, and while its existence has been confirmed – with a launch set for December 15 – we haven't been given much of an idea about what the device will look like... until now.
Ever-reliable tipster @evleaks has posted a bunch of high-quality pictures of the phone, so if you want to get an early look at its aesthetics. Considering the source and the content of these images, we'd say they're likely to be the real deal.
What we appear to have here is a phone that opens and closes like a book, reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. We can see three main camera lenses on the rear of the handset, and what looks like punch-hole selfie cameras on both the larger, internal display and the smaller, external one.
OPPO Find N pic.twitter.com/MMzGo5270UDecember 10, 2021
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Six prototypes later
There seem to be five colors shown off in total in these images: black, white, gray, pale green and lavender. Also noticeable is a USB-C port on the bottom of the phone and hinge text that reads "Designed For Find" – so make of that what you will.
What we know from Oppo's official blog post is that the Find N has been through six generations of prototypes – this is something Oppo has been working on for a while. As yet, we don't have much information on the actual specs of the smartphone though.
If you want even more Oppo Find N content, check out the teaser video that Oppo published online a few days ago: it isn't very long, but it does give us a look at the design of the phone, and how its folding mechanism actually works.
Analysis: phone makers want foldables to be the future of smartphones
It's clear that there's a major push from phone manufacturers to make foldables mainstream. In the launch blog post for the Oppo Find N, Chief Product Officer Pete Lau says these devices are "the future of smartphones" after years of stagnation when it comes to the design of these handsets.
"In an era where everyone has a phone with similar configurations, the smartphone experience has come to a standstill," writes Lau. "If we can find a way to break through the bottleneck of smartphone displays, we could once again revolutionize efficiency and interactivity."
There's no doubt that foldables represent an exciting new direction for smartphones, offering everything that phones currently offer together with a tablet-sized screen for certain tasks when they're fully opened out (there's also the clamshell design, which gives users something slightly different).
Right now there are two barriers to us all having foldables in our pockets: reliability and price. Once manufacturers are able to make foldable phones that are robust enough to last for years, and at a price point that everyone can buy into, sales should start soaring.
