Oppo Find N3 Flip First Impressions: Better Than Samsung and Motorola?

It’s been less than a year and Oppo has already launched a successor to the Find N2 Flip in India. The new Find N3 Flip comes with some big changes mainly to the processor, cameras, and software. Here is your first look at Oppo’s latest flagship foldable for India. The smartphone has launched in just a single variant with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, at a price of Rs. 94,999. This is roughly Rs. 5,000 more compared to the Find N2 Flip, which is not bad. Sales will begin from October 22. 

The new Oppo Find N3 Flip has roughly the same dimensions as the previous model. The glossy finish of this Sleek Black variant is a fingerprint nightmare, but when cleaned up, it gives the phone a very premium look. One new addition to the N3 Flip is an alert slider which feels and functions in the exact same way as OnePlus smartphones. The outer two halves also get Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection.

Next to the outer display is another new addition. For the first time on a vertically folding phone, we have three camera sensors and Oppo claims these are some of the largest sensors too for this form factor. The main camera is the same 50-megapixel Sony IMX890 sensor from the N2 Flip, but it now gets optical stabilisation which should help with smoother videos and sharper low-light photos.

The Oppo Find N3 Flip comes with a fast charger and case in the box

There’s a 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera now with autofocus for macro photos and video. The big highlight is the 32-megapixel portrait camera which offers autofocus and a 2x optical zoom, along with a 20x digital zoom. This is a pretty robust camera setup for a flip folding phone and puts the N3 Flip in the same league as some other regular flagships, at least on paper.

The Oppo Find N3 Flip also gets a new processor. It’s the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 which is said to be more powerful and power efficient. Battery capacity is the same 4,300mAh as before and the phone supports 44W fast charging using the bundled adapter. There’s still no wireless charging.

Oppo says it has strengthened the design of the hinge and it comes with an IPX4 ingress protection against light slashes of water. There’s also literally no visible gap between the two halves when folded and the hinge is now certified to withstand 600,000 folds and unfolds, which is 200,000 more than the Oppo N2 Flip.

The inner display of the Oppo Find N3 Flip is a 6.8-inch flexible OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and full-HD+ resolution. The peak brightness has increased to 1,600 nits. The display is sharp, vivid, and the crease is barely visible or felt when you touch it which is impressive.

The outer screen of the Find N3 Flip lets you run many full-sized apps

The outer screen is pretty much identical to the one on the N2 Flip. Oppo seems to be committed to this aspect ratio — and for good reason — the N3 Flip now lets you use full-sized apps on the outer display, in addition to the preinstalled widgets for weather and camera. Oppo claims that more than 40 apps have been optimised and more will be added.

With the firmware that I had, most of the popular Google apps were there, along with support for others like WhatsApp, Telegram, Outlook, etc. You can even reply to messages with either voice or the keyboard right from the outer screen. The Find N3 Flip runs Android 13, but Oppo says it will deliver four three years of Android updates and five four years of security updates for it.

The Oppo Find N3 Flip is a pretty big update when you think about it and it’s surprising considering the Find N2 Flip launched in India only earlier this year. It certainly gives Samsung and Motorola stiff competition, which is something we’ll dive into in more detail in the full review, so stay tuned.

Update: A previous version of the article mentioned the Find N3 Flip will get 3+4 years of Android and security updates, but Oppo has informed us that it will be getting 4+5 years of the respective updates. The article has been rectified with this.