OPPO appears to be gearing up for the release of a new smartphone bearing the Find Z moniker, as the Chinese OEM applied to trademark the name with the European Union Intellectual Property Office late last week. The documents make no specific mention of the device’s hardware or software characteristics but given the nametag, the OPPO Find Z is expected to be presented as the OEM’s forthcoming flagship phone meant to succeed the OPPO Find X.
Whether this means that the Find Z will have an equally-unique design as the flagship launched in mid-2018 remains to be seen, but it’s not outlandish to expect OPPO to retain the slide-out motorized mechanism employed by the Find X, or come up with a brand new form factor for the upcoming model.
OPPO will attend the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month where the OEM is expected to showcase a new camera module capable of 10X optical zoom. This will likely be achieved with the help of a periscope-style camera similar to the one showcased at MWC in 2017, but as yet it’s unknown what device will carry this technology. It is expected to accompany a premium device, and the OPPO Find Z will likely fit in this category, but as yet there’s no official word on the aforementioned model so only time will tell if it will be showcased during the mobile event in late February.
Its predecessor – the OPPO Find X – was unveiled in June 2018 and released one month later. It sported a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset coupled with 8GB of RAM, but the highlight was undeniably the smartphone’s design, featuring a motorized pop-up dual camera system boasting 16-megapixel and 20-megapixel cameras with optical image stabilization, along with a 25-megapixel front-facing camera.
Likewise, the OPPO Find Z is expected to carry the latest chipset from Qualcomm, namely the brand new Snapdragon 855. Once again this has yet to be confirmed but it would be appropriate for an ambitious 2019 flagship device coming from the OEM. Last week, OPPO CEO Chen Mingyong confirmed that the Snapdragon 855 chipset will be employed for future devices planned for release by the end of the year, and reemphasized its desires to enter the 5G market early on.
OPPO’s event will take place on February 23 between 14:00 and 15:40 CET at the Sofia Hotel, so the OEM will have a head start over some of its competitors scheduled to showcase their latest products on the MWC show floor starting February 25. It’s likely that the company wanted to secure the Find Z name before the device will be officially unveiled during the event, or the device might be slated for a later release and the timing is simply coincidental.
However, the fact that the OEM applied for trademarking the name with EUIPO lends more weight to the possibility that OPPO is making the necessary preparations for an official unveiling on European ground in Barcelona. Meanwhile, OPPO also confirmed last week that it plans to enter the wearable market with new products including smart headphones and smartwatches, so there is a chance that whatever flagship phone will be unveiled at MWC could also be accompanied by a range of new werables.