Oppo’s new foldable phone isn’t quite as crumpled, but it’s pretty close

The first thing most people seem to do when trying out a foldable phone I’m reviewing is looking for a crease in the screen. In the case of Oppo’s Find N6, it may take some time.

Oppo claims the Find N6, which will be fully launched next week on March 17, has the world’s first “crease-free” foldable display. Let’s get one thing out of the way early: “zero” moves us forward.

You He can You feel the wrinkles of this phone, but barely, and only when you really think about it. You can see it too, but only in the right light, at the right angle, and you have to squint a little to see it. This is the least intrusive crease I’ve found in any foldable phone to date, and it’s so subtle that I have a hard time imagining how it could bother anyone.

The main way Oppo achieved micro-crease is actually pretty cool: liquid 3D printing. The company says that the crease is mainly caused by height differences on the hinge surface underneath, so it solved the problem by trying to eliminate those differences. The hinge is laser scanned to detect spots where the surface is uneven, then a light-sensitive polymer is printed to fill in those voids, and it is hardened with a burst of UV light. Oppo says it repeats this process more than 20 times, resulting in average surface differences of just 0.05 mm, thinner than a human hair.

Oppo also claims that the Find N6’s crease should be as well He spends They are harder to detect over the life of the phone, rather than getting worse over time. To this end, a slightly thicker type of folding glass is used, which is more resistant to deformation and also recovers its shape better. Obviously, it’s hard for me to evaluate this after a few days of using the phone — although the company showed me a phone that it claimed had been folded 200,000 times, and its creases felt no different from my review unit fresh out of the box.

With the phone’s full launch not waiting for another week, Oppo is remaining tight-lipped about most of the Find N6’s other specifications. The company only confirmed that it will have at least one 200-megapixel camera; Pen support. And ratings of IP56, IP58 and IP59 for protection against dust and water – which means it doesn’t quite measure up. Honor Magic V6IP69 rating for and Google Pixel 10 Pro FoldIP68. It’s also skinny, about the same size as last year’s skinny Look for N5 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. Oh, and it will come in silver for my review unit, plus that’s inevitable iPhone-ish orange.

We will know more details on March 17 when the company announces It claims that the Find N6 will get a “global” launch. – Although since the Find N5 launched last year only in China and a few select Asian markets, there’s no guarantee how global the launch will be.

Photography by Dominic Preston/The Verge