This is the Oppo Find N.

Oppo’s first folding phone, the Find N, will look a lot like Samsung’s Galaxy Fold range of devices, but it will seemingly be better, the brand’s chief product officer—also OnePlus founder—Pete Lau said Thursday, December 9^th. In an open letter shared with the media, Lau said the Find N was the result of four years of intense R&D and six generations of prototypes and is ready to launch—finally—on December 15 during Oppo’s third annual Inno (short for innovation) Day event in China.

Also Read | Oppo teases ‘retractable’ smartphone camera, NPU chip and smart glasses ahead of Inno Day 2021 event

Oppo had shown off this crazy futuristic rollable concept called the Oppo X 2021 last year, a phone that we had tried out in person and found to be basking with potential. It was, of course, rough around the edges, but it was truly one-of-a-kind—it looked and felt like the future is how we’d put it. The Find N seems to be a lot less ambitious though Lau is promising nothing but the moon ahead of the phone’s formal unveiling.

Oppo X 2021 (Photo credit: Saurabh Singh/Financial Express)

The top Oppo executive in fact, has also taken a subtle dig at rivals—that range from Samsung to Xiaomi to Huawei—saying “although a handful of other brands have already introduced foldable devices to the market, barriers such as utility, durability and user experience continue to prevent foldable devices from becoming a more feasible daily driver for most people.”

“For Oppo, it is better to launch a product at a later date when it is ready to offer a great user experience instead of simply rushing to keep up with trends.”

Those words are accompanied by a string of promises, most importantly around durability, ease of use, and experience—things that every OEM needs to justify first with this form factor, over specs like processing power and camera megapixels. Only Samsung has been able to get some sort of headway in the category and even that has taken a while to crack. The current gen Galaxy Z Fold 3 is perhaps the best-case scenario for folding phones today. Be sure to check our full review here:

Also Read | Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 review: Best of both worlds, now in the palm of your hand

How Oppo plans to one-up Samsung remains to be seen. Without sharing any concrete details, Lau said the Find N—Oppo’s first folding phone—will feature “perhaps the best hinge and display designs available today.” This would entail two things. One that it would be more durable and two—and this is perhaps the most interesting bit—Oppo seems to have found a way to solve—or for safe side, let’s go with, reduce—the crease issue that mars every folding phone, including the Galaxy Z Fold 3, today.

Elsewhere, the Find N will offer “powerful performance while maintaining an appropriate weight and size” and a “nicely balanced experience” across phone and tablet configurations. More details are awaited.