Oppo Discover N5 overview: When you go flexible, it is arduous to return.
The Oppo Discover N5 is the primary foldable telephone I’ve spent any actual time with, and it is actually taken maintain. I am now determined for Apple to get into the foldable recreation, but when it does, the iPhone Fold could have its work minimize out to beat this factor.
If you’ve been utilizing telephones for so long as I’ve, it is very uncommon that somebody new comes alongside. The iPhone 16 is the very best iPhone that Apple has ever made, however it’s nonetheless an iPhone.
If we’re all trustworthy, telephones have not modified within the final eight years or so. The final large improve got here when Apple ditched the Dwelling button with iPhone X in 2017, and naturally, Android telephones adopted go well with.
However within the final couple of years, a brand new sort of telephone has began to come back to the fore. Beforehand an costly but flawed concept, the foldable telephone is beginning to attain the mainstream — regardless of Apple’s reluctance to get entangled.
Oppo has proven no such reluctance and has launched a flurry of foldable telephones lately. The most important and better of these is the Oppo Discover N5, a book-like foldable that fixes two of the most important issues I’ve all the time disliked about foldable telephones.
The primary of these is thickness. The Discover N5 is extremely skinny, even when folded closed.
The second is the outer show that is usually small and of comparatively poor high quality. Oppo fastened that by slapping a shocking show on the surface of the Discover N5.
The mix of those two issues does one thing magical. Closed, the Discover N5 seems like a traditional telephone. And that is large.
It is so large that I discover myself utilizing the Discover N5 in lieu of my iPhone 15 Professional Max, making it the primary Android telephone to oust my iPhone in a very long time.
However extra importantly, it is made me excited for brand new telephones once more. Extra particularly, a foldable iPhone.
I believe that, by the point you’ve got completed studying, you will perceive why. However I hope it’s going to additionally stand as a warning to Apple and its extraordinarily succesful engineers.
It is a warning that must be heeded, too. As a result of whereas it is clear {that a} foldable iPhone is coming, it has lots to dwell as much as. Will it’s as much as the duty?
Should you’re a long-time iPhone proprietor, it is most likely unlikely that you will leap ship any time quickly. But when Apple goes to make a splash, it must compete proper out of the gate.
As you will learn, the Oppo Discover N5 is strictly what I would like from a foldable iPhone. Put iOS on this factor, and I am there day one.
I will promote one of many youngsters if I’ve to. Possibly each.
Oppo Discover N5 overview: Specs
The very first thing that we now have to get into when discussing specs is these shows. Plural.
Shows
The star of the present is undoubtedly the inner 8.12-inch foldable show, which offers a 96% screen-to-body ratio. On the surface, we now have a 6.62-inch show, which supplies the Discover N5 a 92% screen-to-body ratio.
Oppo Discover N5 overview: Closed, the Discover N5 seems to be like some other telephone.
These aren’t low-resolution, low refresh price components, both. Each provide a variable 120Hz refresh price, like ProMotion, so animations and scrolling are buttery clean.
For pixel-peepers, the inner show’s 2480 x 2248-pixel decision and canopy display’s 2616 x 1140-pixel decision needs to be greater than sufficient. That equates to 412 pixels-per-inch (PPI) and 431 PPI, respectively. Web sites, photographs, movies, and apps all look nice regardless of which show they’re on.
The specs simply carry on coming, too. Each shows help 100% DCI-P3 and 100% sRGB, they usually’re lots brilliant with 2,100 nits (inside show) and a couple of,450 nits (cowl show) peak brightness.
How does that examine to Apple’s most interesting?
We’ve to go to the iPhone 16 Professional Max to search out something near the dimensions of the outer show on the Discover N5 — 6.9 inches for the iPhone in comparison with the Discover N5’s 6.62-inch providing.
The iPhone has a 120Hz Tremendous Retina XDR Show with a 2868 x 1320-pixel decision at 460 ppi, with P3 Extensive Colour and all the nice HDR stuff included. Should you can inform the distinction between 460 PPI and 431 PPI, you’ve got higher eyes than I.
I’ve stated it earlier than, however it warrants repeating. These shows are gorgeous, and that goes for the inside, foldable show in a manner that different foldables have not matched — the crease.
It is a truth of foldables that their shows have a crease the place they bend. Early foldable telephones had horrible creases, however issues have improved enormously with latest iterations.
Within the case of the Oppo Discover N5, the crease is solely invisible whenever you’re utilizing it. Even at an angle, when searching for it, that crease is so minimal as to be inconsequential.
That foldable show is a marvel made doable by a cool hinge that additionally helps to maintain the telephone flat when open. It’s also possible to half-open it to create a form of laptop computer impact, do you have to actually need to.
These shows are what Apple might want to replicate when it lastly enters the foldable telephone market. Now I’ve seen what’s doable, something much less will probably be an enormous letdown.
Cameras
Cameras are sometimes the place foldable telephones let themselves down, however the Discover N5 is totally different. Thanks partly to the large digicam bump that provides Oppo some area to suit some {hardware} into an in any other case svelte body.
Oppo Discover N5 overview: Now that is what I name a digicam bump.
The principle wide-angle digicam has a 50-megapixel sensor with autofocus and optical picture stabilization included. Digital picture stabilization can also be current, so photographs are good and blur-free.
Oppo Discover N5 overview: A shot taken utilizing the principle rear digicam.
Transferring to the telephoto digicam, we once more have a 50-megapixel sensor with autofocus and optical picture stabilization. The 8-megapixel ultra-wide digicam rounds issues out, once more with the identical autofocus and optical picture stabilization included.
Up entrance, we now have two equivalent selfie cameras. 8-megapixel sensors are used, one below the duvet show and one other below the foldable, inner show.
By way of supported codecs, the Discover N5’s rear cameras can seize 4K video at 60fps with HDR capturing supported. There’s additionally help for slow-motion video seize at 1080p and 240 fps.
Evaluating all of this with the iPhone 16 Professional Max once more, there is not all that a lot between the 2 gadgets. Apple’s telephone has a 48-megapixel Fusion major digicam paired with a 12-megapixel 5x telephoto shooter.
A 48-megapixel ultra-wide digicam rounds issues out on the rear, whereas a 12-megapixel digicam handles selfies.
Apple helps loads of seize choices, together with Good HDR 5, spatial images, and extra. Video recording tops out at 120 fps when recording in 4K Dolby Imaginative and prescient — an improve over the Discover N5’s 1080p.
If sluggish movement is the principle purpose you utilize your telephone’s digicam, the iPhone wins it. However my testing has proven the 2 telephones to be neck and neck in each different manner.
Chip, colours, and extra
With the shows and cameras lined, the subsequent port of name is the chip that powers all of it. Oppo has used the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, a 3nm chip that is about as quick as something within the Android world.
The silicon is backed up by 16GB of RAM, and the one storage choice is a plentiful 512GB. That is greater than sufficient area to put in your favourite apps and video games.
Topping up the 5,600mAh battery is extremely quick due to help for 80W SuperVOOC charging. That is sooner than an M4 MacBook Air and makes the iPhone 16’s 30W charging appear ridiculous.
The charging will get crazier, too. When you’ve got a wi-fi charger that may match it, the Discover N5 helps 50W wi-fi charging, which is, frankly, unbelievable.
Apple’s iPhones high out at round 30W when charging utilizing a USB-C cable and Qi2 speeds of 20W when charging wirelessly. There is a clear winner right here.
Talking of wi-fi, the Discover N5 helps Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. A USB-C port with USB 3.1 Gen 2 help handles wired connectivity and charging.
Oppo Discover N5 overview: Design
You should buy the Oppo Discover N5 in considered one of two colours. The one I have been testing is the Misty White mannequin, and it is attractive. There’s additionally a Cosmic Black in the event you aren’t feeling the white, too.
You, in fact, get 4 colours to select from when shopping for an iPhone 16 Professional Max, they usually’re all good. However there’s one thing in regards to the Misty White that makes me need it on my subsequent iPhone.
Oppo Discover N5 overview: That is one skinny foldable telephone.
Transferring on, we now have to speak about dimensions. I am not usually all that keen on these figures, however this time is totally different.
To be extra correct, I am within the thickness of the Discover N5 when it is within the closed place. Or ought to that be thinness?
Closed, the Discover N5 measures simply 8.93mm, which is barely thicker than the iPhone 16 Professional’s 8.25mm girth. Open, this factor is simply 4.21mm thick, which makes it a dream to carry.
This telephone is extremely mild, too, at simply 229 grams. The iPhone 16 Professional Max weighs 227 grams, so basically the identical because the Discover N5.
These stats are what make the Discover N5 such a delight, each within the pocket and within the hand. I can not overplay that truth, and you may want to carry one to understand it. Which is a matter we’ll get to shortly.
Oh, and regardless of the foldable design, the Discover N5 has achieved the very best doable degree of water resistance, which is spectacular. I am undecided I might dunk it underwater on goal, however I would not panic on the first signal of rain, both.
Oppo Discover N5 overview: Software program
I’ve already stated that utilizing the Oppo Discover N5 is a good expertise, however I am positive a few of you might be already questioning about one key factor. Sure, the Discover N5 runs Android. Android 15, to be particular.
Oppo Discover N5 overview: Android runs properly on the bigger show.
I knew that utilizing Android can be the most important problem throughout my time with the Discover N5, and I used to be proper. However solely as a result of it meant lacking out on one thing that was solely predictable: iMessage.
Within the yr 2025, most apps have an Android and an iPhone model, and, for essentially the most half, it is simply pretty much as good. I missed apps from smaller builders, like Good Hyperlinks and Reeder, however these items could be labored round — iMessage in a household stuffed with iPhone house owners, not a lot.
If I had been switching long-term, I might need to ask everybody emigrate to WhatsApp for our household chats. It will be high-quality, and it could work, however it would not be supreme.
RCS help would remedy the issue if our service of alternative supported it. Hopefully, it’s going to get round to doing that sooner slightly than later.
The Android 15 set up itself is obfuscated barely by ColorOS 15, Oppo’s personalized model of Google’s software program. I loved utilizing it, maybe as a result of there’s a clear iOS-like feel and appear to it.
I loved the bloatware much less, although. Oppo installs a ton of apps that I do not need or want, and lots of of them are aimed on the Chinese language market. It is an age-old drawback for Android customers, however it could possibly all be uninstalled, fortunately.
All of this being stated, as a lot as Android has improved within the final decade, it is not iOS. For higher and for worse.
Oppo Discover N5 overview: The perfect telephone you may’t purchase
It needs to be very apparent by now that I am an enormous fan of the Oppo Discover N5. I believe it is a technical marvel that it is this skinny and this good to carry, but by some means bends within the center.
Oppo Discover N5 overview: The iPhone 15 Professional Max and Discover N5 look good collectively.
I may even address the concept of it operating Android — it is come on leaps and bounds since I final used it full time a decade or so in the past. However there’s one large drawback that potential patrons should reckon with, and that is the very fact you may’t truly purchase it.
The probabilities are good that you just’re studying this in the USA, which is an issue. The Oppo Discover N5 is not out there within the US, though it’s supplied in round 75 international locations worldwide.
American foldable followers can select to import the telephone by way of quite a lot of strategies, however I would not suggest it. The guarantee state of affairs is a grey space, and any points will probably be a nightmare to get fastened.
That is an enormous disgrace, too, as a result of till Apple’s foldable iPhone arrives, that is the subsequent smartest thing. It is an iPhone Fold operating Android and with an Oppo emblem on the again, and I am satisfied of that.
Actually, when Apple does ship a foldable, I count on it to look similar to this system by way of dimensions and show expertise. If it would not, I will be dissatisfied, and you have to be too.
What I do know is that this telephone has rekindled my curiosity in fashionable telephones, particularly a future Apple foldable.
The thought of getting an iPhone Professional Max that opens as much as develop into an iPad mini excites me. It is the last word in flexibility, particularly with iOS 26’s new windowed multitasking options.
My solely concern is the worth. The expertise utilized by Oppo is not low cost, and I see no purpose why Apple’s model will probably be any cheaper.
However if you need the very best expertise, and it’s important to have iOS, I wager that will probably be price each single penny.
Should you’re within the Android world, I can undoubtedly say the identical in regards to the Oppo Discover N5 proper right here, proper now.
Oppo Discover N5: Execs
The final word in flexibility
Beautiful shows inside and outside
An extremely thin-yet-sturdy design
Mud and water resistance
Oppo Discover N5: Cons
You most likely cannot purchase it
Android would possibly put some folks off
Some preinstalled bloatware
Oppo Discover N5: Ranking 4 out of 5
The place to purchase the Oppo Discover N5
You possibly can’t formally purchase the Oppo Discover N5 in the USA proper now. Imported fashions are typically out there at Amazon, however costs are sometimes across the $2,500 mark.
