What you need to know
- OPPO's Find N3 Flip is rumored to launch on August 29 in China.
- The OnePlus Open has seemingly had its launch date pushed back to "late September" or "early October."
- OnePlus' delay is possibly two-fold: its recent display switch and due to the patent dispute case between OPPO and Nokia in Europe.
A new series of rumors have surfaced regarding Chinese brands OPPO and OnePlus' potential release windows for new foldable phones. X tipster Yogesh Brar has rumored that OPPO might eye an "end of August" release date for the Find N3 Flip. Max Jambor doubled down on this theory, posting that the device could see an August 29 launch date.
Keep in mind, this would be for consumers in China first. A global release may take place in September. This would also be an early launch for the foldable successor, as the OPPO Find N2 Flip launched in December last year.
Meanwhile, the other BKK Electronics subsidiary, OnePlus, is seeing rumors spread again about its apparent delay. Yogesh Brar mentioned that the OnePlus Open may have its global launch delayed until "late September - early October."
OPPO Find N3 Flip China launch is scheduled for end of August.OnePlus Open Global launch is expected to happen by late September - early October.Apparently the delay is not just due to display switch but also due to the Nokia - OPPO royalty case.August 16, 2023
Apparently, the running theory is OnePlus has delayed the launch of its book-style foldable because of the ongoing patent dispute case between OPPO and Nokia in Europe. After OnePlus and OPPO halted sales in Germany, the latter was forced to cease operations in France despite winning a lawsuit against Nokia.
OPPO has been grappling with this patent case, along with other BKK Electronic brands, for a year now, with the company having to pull out of regions and leave consumers in the area with customer support for as long as possible.
Another contributing factor to the delay is supposedly OnePlus' decision to swap out the Open's display from BOE to Samsung. The former is a Beijing-based manufacturer; however, the rumors aren't clear as to why OnePlus decided to jump ship and shift to Samsung — though the Korean OEM is quite notable for providing high-quality displays for smartphones.
On the flip side, OPPO's upcoming clamshell recently had its design leaked, and consumers may not find a vastly different-looking phone when compared to the Find N2 Flip. While the bulk of the device appears similar, one outstanding difference in the leak was the N3 Flip's updated camera system. The N3 Flip may opt to deliver a circular triple camera housing array instead of stacking them vertically.
The leaks added the clamshell may provide a 50MP primary camera, 8MP ultrawide, and a 32MP telephoto lens.
