Render of the Oppo Find N3 Flip appears
UPDATE: Reliable tipster Evan Blass calls the render of the Oppo Find N3 Flip that accompanies this story a fake. He says that a third camera lens was added to a previously released image of the Find N2 Flip to create this "render."
Last year Oppo added a second foldable phone when the Find N2 Flip joined the Find N2. The latter was a book-style foldable and the former was a clamshell foldable similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4. Oppo placed a landscape-oriented 3.3-inch external display on the device which was the largest cover screen on a clamshell last year topping the Motorola Razr's 2.7-inch Quick View screen, the 3-inch external screen on Vivo's Flip X, and the 1.9-inch cover screen on the Galaxy Z Flip 4.
2023 is the year of the larger clamshell foldable external display
But if 2023 is the year of anything, it is the year of even larger clamshell foldable external displays. For example, the largest such screen this year is the 3.6-inch Quick View display on the Motorola Razr+ which was just released in the U.S. today. Samsung is hiking the size of the cover screen on the Galaxy Z Flip 5 to 3.4 inches and the external display will support versions of Google apps like YouTube, Maps, and Messages optimized for the Flip 5's larger external display.
Render of Oppo's Find N3 Flip
By making the cover screen more useful, it allows owners of clamshell flippers to navigate from "A" to "B," read notifications, create messages and read incoming ones all without having to open their clamshell to access the larger internal display. That saves time and in theory, it could save battery life.
Today, 91mobiles published a render of the Oppo Find N3 Flip. Keep in mind that the Find N2 Flip was the first clamshell foldable released by Oppo in China last December. The global launch came took place last February. The Find N3 Flip render is based on an early EVT (Engineering Validation Test) which is usually done during the prototyping stage. The design of the Find N3 Flip looks to be the same as the design of the Find N2 Flip except that instead of featuring two cameras, there are three.
Keep in mind that the photography system will still come from Hasselblad and the cameras and sensors employed will be the same ones used on the Oppo Reno 10 Pro. The primary camera will be backed by a 50MP Sony IMX890 sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS) and an f/1.8 aperture. There will also be an 8MP ultra-wide camera and a 32MP telephoto lens. On the internal display you'll find a 32MP hole-punch selfie snapper
The rest of the Oppo Find N3 Flip's specs are the same as those found in the Find N2 Flip and are rumored to include a 3.26-inch AMOLED cover display, and a 6.8-inch FHD+ internal screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. Under the hood will be the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 Plus SoC paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. A 4300mAh battery will keep the lights on and support 44W fast wired charging.
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Flip 4 were the most popular foldable phones in each of the last two years
Unknown at the moment is the date when Oppo will unveil the Find N3 Flip and we assume that it will take place at the same time as the introduction of the Oppo Find N3 Fold. All we can say is stay tuned. Both the Find N2 Fold and Find N2 Flip were unveiled in China last December 15th and released just eight days later.
It's no surprise that the competition is heating up in the clamshell foldable sector of the market. After all, the most popular foldable phones in the world over the last two years were the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4. With the larger cover screen, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 could continue the streak.
Last month Google Pixel product manager George Hwang said at Google I/O that the company has an interest in producing a clamshell foldable to go along with the Pixel Fold which will be released next Tuesday. That is something to keep an eye out for.
Oppo is one of the phone brands owned by China's BBK Electronics along with Vivo, OnePlus, and Realme.
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