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During a Q&A session led by several members of Oppo’s senior product and strategy teams on the first day of this year’s Mobile World Congress, we were treated to an enlightening insight into the company’s current approach to the foldable market and why it feels the time is right. It is not good that such technology trickles down to the mid-market.
While we’ve had the option to pay cash for foldable devices for about three years now, the materials, engineering, and hardware used in such devices still make them significantly more expensive than alternatives with similar specs that don’t have to bend at the waist . .
A week before MWC 2023, Oppo launched its first foldable clamshell to the world, the Oppo Find N2 Flip. Despite being great value for a foldable smartphone (£849 in the UK), it still costs a lot of users who would otherwise welcome the convenience of a compact foldable smartphone in their pocket.
When asked if there was room for mid-priced foldable or flip phones, Billy Zhang, Oppo’s vice president of overseas sales and service, answered a lot.
Speaking through a translator, Zhang explained, “Now when we talk about a product like [a mid-range foldable]do we have to think if it can really deliver a good experience because to try and reach the mid-range price range, if we sacrifice things like SoC [the chipset] or imaging, then that would not be good. Because if we cut down on the SoC, we can’t also maximize the computing power of the imaging.”
Zhang continued, “As foldable product shipments increase, there will certainly be more room for cost reduction – from a supply chain perspective, but this process will take time.”
You would think that was all she wrote; Zhang confirmed that cutting corners to market such a device would be detrimental to the user and until shipments increase, costs are unlikely to come down.
If competitors want to do it, let them do it.
Billy Zhang, Oppo
It was clear that Zhang was not done yet; he was eager to expand the potential and viability of mid-range foldable products.
“I would like to share more comments on the cost reduction of flip phones,” he continued. “Some initial ideas might be removing the bezel, cutting back on the SoC, cutting back on the camera.
“But when we talk about the flip phone, if we remove the cover screen, it’s definitely not a good experience because the cover screen is important to give you more convenience to check quick notifications and things like that. Or if you cut back on the SoC will also have an impact.”
“In about six months or maybe a longer time, there may be these types of flip phones on the market, but they can cut corners — like using plastic in their frames or removing the cover screen — but that’s definitely not a good thing.” experience for us; that’s not something we do [Oppo] want to do. If competitors want to do it, let them do it. User experience is our first consideration.”
Affordable foldables, but at what price?
Based on Zhang’s statements, it’s unlikely we’ll see a foldable tablet with a significantly lower price tag any time soon.
Oppo wants to appear uncompromising in its approach to product development and its message is that the user experience is paramount; an aspect of any device that is guaranteed to suffer if you start hacking basic interaction methods (such as a cover screen) or functions.
However, Zhang left the door open for other manufacturers to make the difficult decision of what needs to be cut to bring a familiar folding experience to the mid-range market. The question then is: who comes first?
Check out our roundup of the best foldable devices and you can learn more about the Oppo Find N2 series while you’re at it.