Oppo's first foldable phone tipped to launch next month

Oppo may be the next smartphone brand to have its own foldable phone. A new rumour from China has suggested that Oppo’s first foldable may arrive in November. This is contrary to previous rumours that said that the foldable device from Oppo may get an early 2022 release. Oppo has not announced a launch event yet, but if this rumour is true, an announcement may be headed our way.

The tipster shared the information on Weibo, which is China’s equivalent to Facebook, and it tells more than just the launch date. He said the Oppo foldable phone, which surprisingly does not have a name yet, will have an 8-inch foldable internal display. It will use the LTPO AMOLED panel and have a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. LTPO is Samsung’s patented technology for display, which means the South Korean company’s Samsung Display arm will provide Oppo with the displays.

A previous rumour suggested that the Oppo foldable will have a design identical to that of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, which means it will unfold from the middle into a tablet. It may have a 2K resolution, which is something we recently saw on the 10.4-inch Realme Pad tablet. It also talked about other aspects of the phone, such as the camera, which may use a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor.

The tipster corroborated that the Oppo foldable phone will use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, which is strange because by that time Qualcomm will be ready to launch the successor - possibly the Snapdragon 898. That would make the foldable a bit older and dated performance-wise. But that difference will not be huge and considering this will be the company’s first foldable phone, a tested and seasoned processor seems like the right choice.

Oppo’s first foldable phone is highly likely to be a China-exclusive device, according to the tipster. This means Oppo may not immediately launch it outside of China, unlike Samsung, which sells its Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip phones in several countries. The tipster also hinted that Oppo’s foldable is not going to come cheap. That makes sense because even though foldables have become mainstream, they are a novelty and not as convenient to use as regular smartphones. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold costs about Rs 1.5 lakh despite the fact that it is the third generation of Samsung’s foldable devices.

Oppo may soon make an announcement if this rumour holds any water.