Oppo Find N vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3: Which is the better Foldable in the market?

For a long time, Samsung has been the most popular folding phone maker in the world. In 2021, it launched the Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G and Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G. Both of these are purposed to cater to varied use cases and hence come designed, specced, and priced differently too. Simply put, the Fold is more of a book-like format and the Flip resembles the flip-phones of yesteryear. While the Z Flip 3 is like a phone folded in half, the Z Fold 3 is like having a phone that could transform into a tablet and vice versa. Now, as I said, both form factors have their fans and if you fall into the Z Fold 3 club, you’d be glad to know that going forward you are likely to get multiple options to choose from. Yes, it won’t be just Samsung, but brands like Oppo with its Find N series are entering the fray.

Oppo unveiled the Find N foldable as a consumer-ready product at its INNO Day 2021 event. This new folding phone adopts the handbook-shaped design but isn’t a replica of the Z Fold 3. Rather, the Chinese giant claims to have worked on several prototypes for the last four years and this is the result of those iterations. It looks and maneuvers differently from the Sammy foldable, is loaded to the teeth in terms of specs, has got software chops of its own, and undercuts the third-gen Galaxy Z Fold by a fair amount. So, let’s check out how the Find N differs from the Z Fold 3. Put it differently, let’s Find the best Foldable amongst the two.

Find N vs Z Fold 3: Design

Although both devices are of the book-like design, the Oppo Find N is the handier of the two. Whence folded, it will be easier to carry around be it in hand or in the pocket. Also, unlike Fold 3 (review), the Find N manages to close completely flat whilst folded. And when it is unfolded, the crease is less obvious compared to that of the Z Fold 3.

Both phones come with the same Gorilla Glass Victus protection on the front and back as well as the use of Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) on the inner screen. But when it comes to ingress protection, only the Z Fold 3 benefits from IP68 water resistance. No dust resistance though on both devices due to their many moving parts.

Find N vs Z Fold 3: Display

Out of the two, the Z Fold 3 has got a bigger and overall better display. While both have bright and high-res gorgeous AMOLED panels with HDR10+ certification, when it comes to a high-refresh-rate, Samsung is giving the buttery smooth 120Hz refresh both on the outer and inner displays.

If you don’t care about high-refresh-rate everywhere, the Find N display is of a more comfortable size and aspect ratio. Its cover screen looks like a regular phone and the curved edges add to the comfiness in hand.

Find N vs Z Fold 3: Cameras

In the megapixel game, Oppo edges out the Samsung folding phone. But, real-world results might differ. Also, the 4K videos from the front camera on the Z Fold 3 should fare better than the FHD films from the Find N.

Another thing is the use of an under-display 4MP camera on the Z Fold 3 that stays largely inconspicuous. This, albeit good in appearance, the quality is barely serviceable. In contrast, the Find N’s 32MP should offer better output.

Find N vs Z Fold 3: Software

Although the choice of software is a subjective thing, in this case, Samsung has an advantage as its One UI skin on the Z Fold 3 feels more feature-rich and better-polished. Here are some of the cool tricks it packs up its sleeves:

• ‘Customize app aspect ratios’ lets you use Instagram in full screen
• Multi-window with up to three apps in simultaneous use
• Open apps in floating bubbles
• the lock screen pattern can be moved closer to your thumb during one-handed usage
• The default keyboard comes in a split mode
• Flex Panel (i.e., using the fold in an upright clamshell form with the main app visuals at the top and controls, if any, at the bottom)

Oppo’s ColorOS falls behind majority because of the absent Google Mobile Services, Play Store and the vast library of apps. One can manually flash these things and access the globally popular apps and games, but the experience won’t be always ideal, if not perfect. The good thing is that Oppo offers gestures like a two-finger downward swipe on the middle of the screen to open apps in either halves, or a four-finger pinch to contrive a floating app window, etc.

ALSO READ: Oppo Air Glass is a smart monocle with Assisted Reality capabilities: Know its specs and details

Find N vs Z Fold 3: Hardware Specs

Find N vs Z Fold 3: Price and Availability

The Z Fold 3 is priced at Rs. 1,49,999 for the 12+256GB model and Rs. 1,57,999 for the 12+512GB variant in India. It is available in 40 countries worldwide. Customers in these markets can purchase this phone in Phantom Black, Phantom Green, and Phantom Silver colors.

Meanwhile, Oppo has released the Find N in its home market only. It begins at CNY 7,699 (~₹92,100) for the base 8GB+ 256GB variant, and CNY 8,999 (~₹1,07,600) for the larger 12GB+ 512GB model. It is on pre-booking in China from December 15, and it will be on sale from December 23. It is available in Black, White, and Purple colors. Plans for Indian pricing and availability aren’t disclosed yet.

ALSO READ: Here’s why Samsung Galaxy Fold 3 5G makes Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max look boring

Find N vs Z Fold 3: Which one to buy?

Although solely on availability basis, Z Fold 3 takes the cake, Find N has plenty of things going for it, which makes it a great foldable. Oppo has done a commendable job in its first folding phone. So in future, if it decides to release this or any of the succeeding foldable in the global markets, then we expect that would be a worthy opponent to whatever the incumbent Samsung product has to offer.