Samsung desperately needs to level up its game this year, if the company hopes to maintain its foldable phone supremacy. Chinese smartphone giant, Oppo, is launching its next foldable phone in two weeks from now. And this time around, the company has global ambitions.
An Oppo executive has confirmed on Chinese microblogging platform, Weibo, that the Find N5 will be Oppo’s “first global synchronous release of a folding flagship.” Based on the Oppo Find N3’s trajectory, we can expect the Find N5 to hit the shelves in the US repackaged as the OnePlus Open 2.
The Oppo Find N5 is going to be special for a variety of reasons. While a cross-section profile of just 4.2mm is impressive — dethroning the Honor Magic V3 for the crown of slimmest foldable — it’s the Oppo phone’s resilience that will surprise many.
The upcoming phone will offer IPX6, IPX8, and IPX9 full-grade waterproofing. In promotional materials shared on social media, an Oppo executive can be seen casually dunking it into a flowing stream, while another clip showed a woman shooting underwater videos.
The company has also confirmed that its next foldable phone has been crafted out of sturdy titanium-based material. Foldable phones entail sophisticated engineering, and they need to be handled with care. They can’t quite shrug off water and dust exposure with the same ease as a regular slab-style phone.
Digital Trends’ investigation also unearthed a long history of durability problems with Samsung’s foldable phones, and specifically, their hinge and folding screen assembly. Oppo aims to set a new standard, especially in the face of rivals like Samsung. 
In addition to a more durable build profile, Oppo is apparently not skipping out on the internal firepower. The Find N5 foldable will draw power from Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Elite silicon.
It will serve support for 50W fast wireless charging, as well as reverse wireless charging convenience to juice up other accessories such as earbuds. To put that into perspective, Samsung or Apple’s flagship phones don’t reach that 50W power transfer rate, even in wired charging mode.
Overall, it looks like the Oppo Find N5 will leave a solid global footprint riding atop practical innovations. Samsung, on the other hand, is not doing much in terms of foldable innovations this year.
The upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 7, will reportedly be a rebadged version of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Special Edition that was recently introduced in China. The phone doesn’t offer any interesting upgrades, save for a slimmer build.
It would be interesting to see whether Oppo and OnePlus manage to win new foldable converts this year, especially in the wake of a laggard innovation streak from Samsung. Let the foldable games begin!
