Chinese manufacturer Oppo releases new smartphones regularly. Last week they unveiled three very interesting 5G phones. Oppo is known for innovation however, no Oppo foldable phone has ever been released up to date.
In the past months, Oppo patented several foldable phone designs. They release a foldable phone that unfolds into a tablet and has a pop-up camera and recently, the company filed for a new patent for a foldable phone with a clamshell design.
These models mentioned before feature a flexible display that folding outwards making the screen less protected when we take the phone folded. Oppo just developed an inward folding phone.
Image Credit: letsgodigital
New Oppo with a clamshell design
This past February, Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Group filed for a patent for a ‘Foldable terminal’ which was approved and published on September 3, 2020.
The 41-page documentation mainly describes the hinge in detail. It is a rotating hinge with gears. The cover plates rotate and slide-out covering themselves. This way, the difference in length between the screen and the housing can is compensated for durable folding and unfolding.
The hinge is a bit wider than the phone itself but the system makes it possible to secure the phone at various points.
Image Credit: letsgodigital
4 fixed positions hinge
You don’t want to hear creaking noises during folding and it shouldn’t work too stiffly. Too flexible is not good either, because then the device can unfold easily in your pocket. At the same time, it must be prevented that dust and dirt get into the mechanism, which can affect the operation of the folding process.
For those reasons, we know that a properly functioning hinge is not that easy to develop. Therefore not surprising that Oppo made this an important focal point.
The design of the hinge must ensure that this Oppo phone has a slim design. The Chinese manufacturer is more often committed to ultra-smart designs, the Oppo Find X2 Neo was the world’s thinnest 5G phone and the new Reno4 Pro is also very slim, especially when you consider that this phone incorporates 65W SuperVooC 2.0 Flash Charge technology.
Image Credit: letsgodigital
Oppo Reno Flip 5G 3D Renders
Courtesy of the “LetsGoDigital” design team we can see a series of 3D renders from Opps Reno Smartphone. They are based on the patent images and they are for illustrative purposes only.
It is unclear if Oppo will use a cover display that is very useful when the phone is folded. Notifications, incoming messages, and calls can be displayed on this small screen. Motorola Razr 5G and the Z Flip 5G, have a cover display. Oppo will probably also decide if and when they integrate this second screen when releasing the phone.
Another thing that remains unclear is what kind of camera Oppo will use. For the renders, we thought of a triple camera, as we also see with the latest top models of the brand – think of the Oppo Find X2 Pro and the Reno4 Pro.
In 2019 Oppo released a few models with a pop-up camera, this has not been the case with the 2020 models. Instead, a hole-punch camera was chosen – a small hole is made in the screen for the selfie camera. We have continued this trend in our renders.
Oppo is also focusing on video quality. The new Reno4 and Reno4 Pro are both equipped with an Ultra Night mode and an Ultra Steady Video 3.0 with advanced optical image stabilization making it possible to make extremely smooth quality video recordings, probably Oppo will incorporate these technologies into Oppo’s folding phone.
Most of Oppo 2020 smartphone models support 5G mobile. Where other manufacturers often offer the choice between 4G and 5G models, all mid-range and high-end Oppo smartphones are now equipped with 5G support and they were the first manufacturer to introduce a 5G smartphone in Europe. We can assume that Oppo’s foldable smartphone will also become a 5G phone.
Oppo SuperVooC 2.0 Fasat Charge
Another feature Oppo excels in fast charging. For example, the Find X2 (Pro) and Reno4 (Pro) come with a 65 Watt fast charger, so you can recharge an empty battery in less than 35 minutes. This technology is called SuperVooC 2.0 Flash Charge by Oppo.
Oppo is always looking for new methods to achieve better and faster charging time performance. Last July they introduced a 125W charger, as well as a 65W AirVooC fast charger. This technology might be incorporated in Oppo’s folding phone but we can’t be completely sure about that.
We are eager to see impressive numbers in memory. For example, budget models such as the Reno4 Z are already equipped with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage memory as standard.
However, they are a few questions that still remain; the most evident one is when the first foldable Oppo phone be available?.
Its main competitor Xiaomi seems to be planning a foldable smartphone this year too. Huawei also seems to be on the verge of introducing a completely new model, with an inwardly folding display this time.
The 3D renders presented in this article are copyright protected by LetsGoDigital. The images are based on the original patent drawings from Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications and are for illustrative purposes only. This product is a concept and it’s not for sale.
