Honor, Google, Xiaomi, and Vivo all launched new folding phones last year that were designed to compete with Samsung and the Galaxy Z Fold 6. Yet, the challenge was not just matching Samsung, but also beating a foldable launched the previous year.
Launching in the US, the OnePlus Open set a standard for the industry that ensured it still ranked highly as one of the best folding phones a year later.
To meet this challenge, Honor launched the Magic V3 as the slimmest folding phone ever, and Google launched the revamped Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Both phones delivered an experience that could challenge the best on the market, but conspicuous in its absence was OnePlus, and sister company Oppo.
Rather than launch a new folding phone before it was ready, Oppo chose to wait. The company has been steadily teasing various features on its new folding phone, and as it turns out, the wait was likely worth it. I’m ridiculously excited about the Oppo Find N5, and the best thing is that it will probably also launch as the OnePlus Open 2 in the US and some global markets.
Here’s why I’m so excited and what it means for other folding phones on the market.
Thinner than anything before
Oppo CEO Pete Lau — who also co-founded OnePlus — has been steadily teasing the Find N5 on social media, and every teaser is seemingly worth shouting about. The first that captured my attention was related to the thickness, with Oppo billing the Find N5 as the thinnest folding phone ever made.
— Pete Lau (@PeteLau) January 23, 2025
Last year saw the launch of the Honor Magic V3, which holds the current title for the thinnest folding phone. Measuring just 4.3mm at its thinnest point when unfolded, it’s a joy to use and is far more comfortable in the hand than rivals like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold which measure 5.6mm and 5.1mm respectively.
It may not seem like much, but these are big differences when you’re using the phone daily. Crucially, it also means that it’s much thinner when folded. I use the front screen on my folding phone at least 40% of the time, and it translates to a more ergonomic feel. The Magic V3 is 9.3mm thin when folded, whereas the Z Fold 6 is 12.1mm and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is 10.5mm.
The world's thinnest foldable is coming 🤏 #OPPOFindN5 pic.twitter.com/WhTybLclKm
— Pete Lau (@PeteLau) January 14, 2025
How does the Oppo Find N5 compare? We don’t know for sure, but Oppo teased it against a photo of the iPad Pro M4, which measures 5.1mm, and the iPhone 16 Pro, which measures 8.3mm. Given the Magic V3 is considerably thinner than both of these when unfolded, I’d expect that the Find N5 will come in around 4.2mm thick or even thinner. This would be impressive on its own, but there is more that looks set to help the Find N5 set a new standard for the competition to beat.
New frontiers for durability
Durability has always been a concern for potential folding phone customers, thanks to the larger second display and a hinge. However, durability has vastly improved since the first Galaxy Fold and most folding phones now offer similar levels of durability to their non-folding counterparts.
That said, there’s always room for improvement and the Find N5 looks to set a new standard. When I saw the teaser about the Find N5 being thin, I was fairly excited but also somewhat tempered in my expectations. However, the latest teaser from Pete Lau has me even more excited because it’s shaping up to be more durable than any other folding phone.
IPX6 ✅ IPX8 ✅ IPX9 ✅
Immensely durable, rain or shine. #OPPOFindN5 pic.twitter.com/Yg0G3Qm8Z0
— Pete Lau (@PeteLau) February 7, 2025
Let’s consider the Honor Magic V3: it’s supremely thin but still retains some water resistance thanks to an IPX8 rating, but lacks dust resistance. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 takes this a step further with an IP48 rating offering strong water resistance and limited dust resistance, while the Pixel 9 Pro Fold offers the same IP68 rating that we’ve come to expect from non-folding phones.
The Oppo Find N5, aka the Open 2? It’ll feature an IPX9 rating, meaning it offers the same resistance not only to water but also to high-pressure jets. The other phones that feature a similar rating? The Oppo Find X8 Pro and the OnePlus 13, the latter of which works fine after being thrown in a hot dishwasher. It’s unclear whether there’ll also be dust resistance, but this will set a standard for water resistance in folding phones.
The rest looks equally impressive
Beyond durability and thickness, the Find N5 has a few other rumored features that have me extremely excited. There’s likely to be a 6.85-inch LTPO display with 2K resolution and dynamic refresh rate. It will also be powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and will probably feature 16GB of RAM like the OnePlus 13, although the latter specification is an educated guess on my part.
Powering this entire package is likely to be a 6,000mAh battery that will almost certainly use Silicon Carbon technology like its non-folding siblings. Also onboard is 80W wired charging, although there’s no confirmation or teaser around wireless charging.
No crease detected 🔍 Well, not on the #OPPOFindN5 😉 pic.twitter.com/bIwi1vO6sr
— Pete Lau (@PeteLau) February 6, 2025
One key issue with all folding phones is that most phone makers choose an inferior camera to non-folding equivalent phones. The Find N5 could solve this and set a standard thanks to the rumored triple Hasselblad camera featuring a periscope telephoto lens; if the OnePlus 13 is any indication, this could be a fantastic camera.
Setting the standard for the competition in the US
The Oppo Find N5 is going to pose a fierce challenge to every flagship folding phone on the market, but it won’t launch in the US or many other international markets. Instead, it’s likely to be rebranded to be the OnePlus Open 2, like the Find N3 became the OnePlus Open.
In the US, this means the Galaxy Z Fold 7 — which will hopefully take some lessons from the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition — and the next Pixel Fold will have some fierce competition. Compared to the current generation of folding phones, it will likely have better battery life, a better camera, faster charging, and better durability. If it follows the model of the Open, it’ll also be slightly cheaper than the competition.
I’m ridiculously excited about the Oppo Find N5 because it looks set to bridge the feature gap between the best folding phones and the best phones overall. It also means that buying a folding phone will require a far smaller compromise on the features you want, and this should spur even bigger competition amongst all folding phones. It should also set a standard for the upcoming folding iPhone. Roll on the launch in just a few weeks!
