Foldable smartphones are MWC 2019’s main attractions thus far, it seems, and OPPO has just joined the fold. OPPO’s Vice President, Brian Shen, posted some real-life images of the company’s foldable handset on his official Weibo (Chinese social network) page.
In addition to sharing a handful of images, Mr. Shen also said that the phone will not go into mass production unless there’s a real demand for it, as the company still seems to be on the fence when it comes to foldable smartphones.
Based on the images Mr. Shen shared, this handset actually resembles the Huawei Mate X quite a bit. Not only does it fold outwards, but it also has that bump on the back where the cameras are located, which improves grip on the device, and sits next to the display when the phone is folded.
When unfolded, this phone has really thin bezels, just like the Huawei Mate X, and it does not have a display notch, like Samsung’s offering, the Galaxy Fold. The phone’s display corners are rounded, and even though the company’s VP shared a couple of images of this device, he did not show us the whole back side of the phone.
You will notice that the device has two cameras, though, a dual-LED flash below them, while OPPO’s branding is also included on that bump on the back. Mr. Shen did not share any additional info regarding the device, so we do not have any spec information or anything of the sort, but it’s safe to presume that this will be a flagship-grade phone if OPPO opts to mass produce it.
Foldable Phones Are Here
Samsung introduced its first foldable handset on February 20, along with its Galaxy S10 series, while Huawei did the same yesterday at MWC 2019, as the company announced the Mate X smartphone. TCL followed Huawei by showing off some of its foldable prototypes that are coming in 2020, and now OPPO threw in its competitor into the ring, not fully, but… it gave us a glimpse of what’s coming.
Samsung, Huawei, and TCL all have different approaches to foldable smartphones, and considering that TCL only showed us what’s coming in 2020, it’s possible that the product will change by then, so let’s focus on Samsung and Huawei. Samsung’s foldable smartphone opens like a book, and it comes with one large display, and one considerably smaller on the back, which activates when the phone is folded. When folded, the Galaxy Fold looks more or less like a regular phone with a really small display, and it’s also quite narrow.
The Huawei Mate X, on the other hand, folds outwards, and it has a larger main panel, which actually splits into two displays when the phone is folded. The Mate X folds outwards, and it uses the same cameras as front-facing and rear-facing ones. Both this phone’s main and two secondary displays are larger than what Galaxy Fold has to offer, for better or worse. The Galaxy Fold is said to cost almost $2,000, while the Huawei Mate X will be priced at over €2,200. Both devices are coming in a couple of months.
