OPPO challenging Galaxy Fold longevity with Find N3 series

In the ever-evolving world of foldable smartphones, Oppo has made a bold claim about the durability of its Find N3 series foldables. The company claims its Find N3 Flip and Find N3 to be TUV Rheinland certified for an impressive 1 million folds.

This assertion challenges the competition, particularly Samsung’s fifth-generation Z Flip and Fold devices, at least on paper. The 200,000 fold rating suggests quite a bit of difference in durability compared to OPPO’s offerings. Numbers are numbers, but this is what people can see and compare with.

Oppo claims 1M folds certification, surpassing its previous hunch on Find N3 Flip

The reasons behind this rating adjustment remain shrouded in mystery. The methods of testing could have been changed, yielding a better result. But no specific details have been provided by the company. It might be possible that OPPO was keeping the numbers a bit conservative, and later the device performed better in a standardized test.

In contrast, Samsung utilizes a different certification body, collaborating with ,Bureau Veritas, which officially rated the Galaxy Z Flip 5 for 200,000 folds.

Oppo’s Find N3 series boasts a significantly higher fold certification than Samsung’s foldable lineup. However, practical durability may differ due to various factors. For instance, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 feature an IPX8 water-resistance rating, ensuring protection against submersion in water. In contrast, Oppo’s foldables hold only splash resistance, or in other words, they are rated at IPX4.

An important factor to take into account is that the tests are conducted almost non-stop. As a result, it does not measure the natural deterioration process that would take place in the hinge components during the next 2-3 years of usage in the presence of foreign objects. In this context, superior ingress protection (IP rating) could potentially offer advantages, particularly favoring the Galaxy foldable.

OPPO is putting a lot of emphasis on numbers. But only time will reveal whether its Find N3 series can indeed outperform Samsung’s fifth-generation Galaxy foldables in real-world usage.