While Oppo has already shown that it is up for manufacturing a unique foldable smartphone with the Find N, the Chinese manufacturer is up for its next challenge to bring an affordable one too. The company has already started working on the next foldable smartphone offering but is intent on taking on Samsung and other competitors who have yet to release affordable options too.
According to a report by GSMArena, Oppo has been working on developing a clamshell designed foldable smartphone. It is also rumoured to be priced around CNY 5,000 (approximately Rs 58,000). The design would be similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 3 which currently retails in India at Rs 84,999.
The report only suggests that the foldable smartphone could be one of the devices to launch with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ chipset, but does not provide any other details with regards to the hardware and specifications.
As Samsung continues to lead the market in terms of foldable devices, the recent launch of the Vivo X Fold has also captured the attention of users in China. Even OnePlus has also begun working on its own offering to this segment.
Is it feasible?
When foldable smartphones were first introduced into the market as a concept device, they wooed a lot of consumers. Many considered that this was the future of smartphones.
And when the first Samsung foldable devices arrived on the market, consumers and manufacturers alike realised that there was a limitation to the available technologies. Like the creases in the middle of the display that was visible every time you opened up the smartphone. Or thin film that was used to protect the display accidentally separated from the display.
The second generation of foldable brought in better improvements to the screen technology by leaps and this time companies experimented with under the display cameras. While many were not happy with the quality of the images from the in-display camera, they were quite happy with the rest of the improvements that made the device worthwhile.
Many companies have been patiently designing and manufacturing their foldable offerings but all aimed at a premium price tag. Which is a good thing.
Bringing down the cost of a foldable smartphone may inherently bring challenges when it comes to the technology and the hardware that would be packed within the chassis. Oppo’s intentions are bold and it would be interesting to say how it would play out in the future when it officially releases.
