Oppo’s foldable phone family has two devices: the Find N2 and the Find N2 Flip. Both utilise flexible displays but take very different approaches, similar to how Samsung’s Galaxy Z family hasthe Foldandthe Flip. That means they offer quite different experiences from each other.
The good thing here is that it highlights the versatility of theflexible display technology, showing different ways to take advantage of its properties and - as a result - offering two distinct devices with individual strengths that meet different needs.
When it comes to design there are two very distinct offerings here from Oppo.The Find N2is designed to give you a small tablet-sized - almost square - display on the inside which folds shut like a book, and offers a more conventional smartphone display on the front cover.
The Flip is attempting to offer a big smartphone screen on the inside, without the bulk and heavy-ness that usually comes with having big smartphones, and enables you to fold it shut to a much more compact size.
Despite their very obvious differences in style, the two phones do share some similarities. For instance, Oppo has taken a similar approach to hinge design on both, to ensure that the phones close with virtually no gap for dust and fluff to get into. It also means that - when open - neither has a strikingly visible crease running along the middle of the screen.
The other similarity is that Oppo has attempted to make the two phones slim and lightweight for their styles, the Find N2 feels very lightweight compared to its competition, and the Find N2 Flip is only 16mm thick when shut.
Both are predominantly made from aluminium and glass, although there is a black version of the Find N2 which has a vegan leather back too. Otherwise, you get variations of Gorilla Glass on the exteriors. The Flip has Gorilla Glass 5, and the Find N2 uses the newer, more durable Gorilla Glass Victus. Neither phone has any form of official IP rating for water or dust resistance.
Cover screens
With the book-style Find N2, Oppo has attempted to offer a cover display that’s very similar to using a regular smartphone display, albeit a considerably smaller one. At 5.54-inches, it’s smaller than most flagship phone displays, but it is considerably larger than the cover screen on its clamshell sibling. Using it very much feels like using a regular phone too because it runs a standard Android interface with access to all of your apps and games.
The Find N2 Flip - on the other hand - has a smaller 3.26-inch panel. It still has a vertical orientation and a similar aspect ratio to a standard phone, but it’s a little more limited in its functionality. You get access to card-based widgets like weather, calendar and notifications and such. you may also use it as a monitor for the cameras.
It is still quite useful, however, and does offer more versatility than the cover display on the Galaxy Z Flip 4. You can read up to six lines of text, and even reply to messages on it when you’re in a hurry, so you don’t need to open the phone for absolutely everything.
Since it’s more limited in functionality than the standard Find N2, it’s also not as advanced and doesn’t reach the refresh rates offered by the Find N2. But then again, it doesn’t need them. At 60Hz, it’s more than enough for the use cases it’s been designed for, while the Find N2’s 120Hz refresh rates can keep up with the most demanding content.
Main display and software
Don’t let the diagonal 6.8-inch and 7.1-inch measurements fool you into thinking the two screens are a similar size, they’re not in the slightest. The Find N2 Flip’s 6.8-inch display is long and narrow, with a cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio, like the long screen on theXperia 1 IV. The Find N2’s internal display is almost square in aspect ratio, with its unusual 1792 x 1920 resolution meaning it has far more surface area.
That means they’re geared towards different use cases. You’ll find the Find N2’s big, square screen more suited to side-by-side split-screen multitasking than the Flip model’s display. Whereas, the Flip’s screen will be more suited to traditional media like movie watching.
Otherwise, they do share some similarities, at least when it comes to performance metrics. You’ll get similarrefresh rateson both, with the two phones offering up to 120Hz for smooth and sharp animation within the user interface and demanding game titles. Both also feature similar peak brightness, with up to 1600 nits offered on the Flip and 1550 nits on the standard Find N2.
Internal hardware, battery specs
Unlike the market leader - Samsung - who uses the same chipset in both of its flagship Galaxy Z phones, Oppo opted for Snapdragon in one and MediaTek in the other. Specifically, the Find N2 Flip featuresMediaTek’s flagship 9000+ processorwhich is a very powerful, speedy processor platform. Not that the book-style Find N2 is slow, that features the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 which - up until very recently - was the most powerful Qualcomm chipset on the market.
Perhaps the biggest surprise with the Flip variant is that its battery is almost the same capacity as its bigger sibling. At 4300mAh, it’s far larger than has - so far - been typical of folding clamshell smartphones. In fact, it’s almost ‘regular’ sized. The book-style Find N2 has a slightly larger 4520mAh battery.
The biggest difference is seen in charging speeds once those batteries actually drain. The larger battery can make use of Oppo’s 67W SuperVOOC charging for a full refill in under 40 minutes. The Flip variant has SuperVOOC too, but only up to 44W, which means a full charge takes near enough an hour to complete. It’s not slow, but it’s not super speedy either.
Another clear difference between the two phones makes itself known in the camera department. Both have a 50-megapixel primary camera, but the supporting cast of additional sensors is much stronger on the Find N2. It features a triple camera system with a 48-megapixel ultrawide and a 32-megapixel zoom, giving you three high-resolution cameras with different focal lengths.
The Flip variant has one strong primary camera and a relatively low-resolution ultrawide camera. It doesn’t have a telephoto zoom lens. Like the book-style model, it has a 32-megapixel selfie camera punched into the main internal display.
Both phones can shoot 4K video at 60fps, or shoot slow-motion 1080p video up to 240fps.
Oppo hasn’t launched the Find N2 outside of China, and so comparing pricing has to be done in the context of how they differ where they’re both on sale. Unsurprisingly, the book-style Find N2 is more expensive than the clamshell Flip variant. The difference is about 2600 Yuan in local currency, translating to about £330 or $380 difference, which is no small amount.
Conclusion
In the end, what makes the biggest difference between the two - or at least which one you should buy - is where they’re actually on sale. Oppo isn’t officially launching the more expensive Find N2 outside of China, so getting hold of it is going to be more difficult than getting your hands on the Find N2 Flip.
With that said, the other major consideration is what you actually want from a foldable. If you want a big tablet-esque display that fits in your pocket, the standard Find N2 is the one to go for. If you want a big, standard smartphone ratio display that folds into a compact, pocketable size, the Find N2 Flip is the one to get.
Otherwise, what will make the biggest difference is the camera department. The Find N2 has a much stronger and more versatile camera system with three distinct focal lengths to choose from, so will take better ultrawide and zoomed-in photos.
