Oppo has been making some impressive smartphones of late. Usually available at a good price compared to other bigger name flagship brands, the company is responsible for some of the best smartphones for photographers.

　　Oppo Find N5 At a Glance 50MP f/1.9, 21mm equivalent camera, 1/1.56”, PDAF, OIS 50MP f/2.7, 75mm periscope telephoto, 1/2.75”, PDAF, OIS 8MP f/2.2, 15mm ultrawide camera, 1/4.0-inch, AF 8MP f/2.4, 21mm selfie camera + 8MP f/2.4 21mm cover camera 4K video at up to 30fps Foldable LTPO OLED, 8.12-inch, 2100 nits peak brightness + Cover LTPO OLED, 6.62-inch, 2450 nits peak brightness 5600 mAh battery with fast and wireless charging Color OS based on Android 15 Snapdragon 8 Elite Processor Meanwhile, the popularity of folding phones is ever growing. Offering the convenience and pocketability of a regular “bar” phone and the extra screen real estate of a tablet, there’s now several available from the likes of Samsung, Google and more. However, it’s safe to say that not only are these models usually very expensive, when it comes to the on board cameras, there’s usually a huge amount of compromise to be made.

　　That’s why, when I heard that the new Oppo Find N5 was to be launching, I was quite excited. I assumed a reasonable price, but I also knew that their collaboration with Hasselblad usually produces some pretty decent results too. Could we finally have a folding smartphone that has some serious photography credentials, but also doesn’t cost the earth?

　　Sadly, despite the spec sheet actually looking pretty decent, there’s some pretty bad news here. The Find N5 is only available in a select few markets. Oppo has even said it won’t be launching in the UK, or indeed the rest of Europe. You can’t buy it in the US either. In fact there’s scant few places you can get it, outside of Singapore.

　　Now, I say you can’t buy it. There are always ways and means if you try hard enough – for example you can import it via the grey market and other resellers. We wouldn’t generally recommend this for most people, as it comes with the risk of running into difficulties with warranties and so on, but it is an option.

　　Its also worth taking a look at the Oppo Find N5, as its parent company also owns OnePlus. The latter brand has wider distribution channels than Oppo, so it could be that a future folding OnePlus, such as the successor to the OnePlus Open, will be based largely, possibly even entirely, on the Find N5.

　　So for now, let’s see what we’ve got.

　　How we test camera phones We review smartphones from the perspective of choosing one for its photography and camera performance. We look at what the Oppo Find N5 offers, and the features included for photography and video, paying particularly attention to the cameras on the phone, photo editing capabilities, as well as the output from each different lens. We consider other aspects too, such as the screen quality and battery life.

　　Oppo Find N5: Features The headline spec of this is just how slim and light it is – in fact at the time of launch it was the world’s thinnest foldable, an impressive feat considering it includes three rear cameras, and also houses a decently sized battery, too.

　　As with other Oppo devices, the company has worked with Hasselblad for the camera system. You get a triple lens set up, with two high-resolution sensors and a third, lower resolution sensor. This isn’t as good as you’ll find in many flagship bar phones, but for a folding phone it’s a little above average.

　　The main 1x camera is a 50MP 21mm equivalent, so it’s a little bit wider than most standard 1x cameras – usually they’re either 23mm or 24mm. The high-resolution sees it also offer “lossless” 2x zooming capability. It is joined by a 3x periscope camera, which has a 70mm equivalent focal length and also a 50MP sensor. This telephoto is also equipped with macro focusing, too – the first time we’ve seen telephoto macro on an Oppo.

　　Finally, there’s an 8MP ultrawide camera. This is probably the most disappointing of the three – 8MP is quite low resolution these days, but we’ll see how it gets on later in the review, it might not be too bad.

　　Other features of note include the first time a folding phone has used the high-end Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, a 5600 mAh battery (which promises to deliver the best battery life of any foldable), and five years worth of security updates.

　　Oppo Find N5: Handling and Design When Oppo says this is a thin phone for a foldable, they’re not kidding.

　　It’s just 8.93mm thick when folded, that makes it about the same size as a regular bar phone, and is also only 229g, again about the same weight. Having used other options such as the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, which are a lot chunkier, this is quite something. You could very easily pretend this was just a regular phone and forget there was screen inside altogether.

　　Perhaps especially impressive is the fact that this thinness manages to incorporate a three-camera unit on the back, which is housed in a large circle.

　　The screen on the front of the phone measures in at 6.62-inches, so again, it’s just like using a regular phone. You can operate everything from here, including the camera, your messaging services, emails, browser and whatever.

　　But, should you want a bigger screen to look at – perhaps for your photos/videos, or to better see a document, it opens up to an 8.12-inch interior screen. When you’ve got that screen open, you can also do things like have two apps open side by side. You could use something like this to work from while travelling, without having to carry around an extra laptop or tablet, or being restricted to a tiny phone screen.

　　The exterior screen’s brightness goes up to 2450 nits, while the interior one is slightly dimmer at 2000 nits. Both look pretty good, but there are brighter options out there on the market – for bar phones anyway, some are even going up to 5000 nits. Still, I’ve not had a problem with how it displays images and videos.

　　Waterproofing is available up to IPX9, the highest currently available. The X denotes however that dustproofing is not included. Elsewhere, toughness is provided via a Shielded Aluminium Alloy Frame, which claims to be 30% stronger than the Find N3. The glass is also “Microcrystalline Glass” which is designed to protect against wear and impact, too. The interior screen has anti-impact films which is supposed to give a 30% improvement in bending resistance and 70% stronger impact resistance (again compared to Find N5).

　　I haven’t had the phone for the kind of length of time you’d need to properly ascertain how well it will hold up – you’d need months or even years for that – but I can say it does seem to be pretty well made and the crease in the middle of the phone isn’t too obtrusive, either.

　　Oppo Find N5: Native Camera App There’s a lot to like about the N5’s native camera app, with it offering a wide range of shooting modes.

　　By default, the Photo mode launches, and that’s probably the one you’ll be using most of the time. With this, you can use all of the lenses, as well as having quick access to 2x and 6x options, or pinching if you want to zoom up to a maximum of 120x using the “AI Telescope Zoom”.

　　You can also add filters, some of which are designed to emulate film stock, as well as turn on/off other options including Auto HDR and macro shooting.

　　An interesting mode to use is the “Master” mode, which gives you the opportunity to manually control settings such as ISO, shutter speed, white balance and exposure compensation. You can also shoot in raw format here if you like. A Portrait mode gives you the option to shoot portraits at 1x, 2x or 3x and you can adjust the “lighting”, giving your portraits a “misty” or “glowing” effect for example.

　　Some shooting modes are hidden in the “More” tab, including Hi-Resolution, Slo-Mo and Panoramic. There’s also a Night mode here, but you should find that Night mode also automatically activates when shooting in low light situations with the standard Photo mode. The standard Video mode gives you options to record at 4K at up to 60fps.

　　One thing to also note is that if you open the screen while you’re using the camera app, you can use the phone itself as a sort of tripod. You’ll see that if you open it half way, the bottom half of the screen will display the camera controls, while the top part displays the view. In this setup, it could be handy for group shots and night scenes, especially if you can find another surface to rest the phone on – such as a table.

　　There’s a set of AI Editing tools which you can use to enhance your photos, including removing reflections, and erasing objects. It’s quite useful for cleaning up scenes where an annoying tourist has wandered into your beach shot. As long as the background is relatively clean, it does a decent job of it, too.

　　Oppo Find N5: Image Quality and Performance On the whole, the Find N5 produces some pretty decent imagery. It’s not quite at the top-level of bar phone flagships, putting in the same kind of performance as a very good mid-range option. By comparison with most other folding phones however, it’s very good and it feels like finally we have a phone of this kind that can leave you with good results.

　　The best results come from the 1x lens, which is as we’d expect. The worst, from the ultrawide – again as we’d expect. If you’re only ever going to examine your ultrawide shots on your phone, it’s not too bad however. The 3x lens does a reasonable job, and again, if you’re only ever going to be looking at these photos on your phone, they’re more than sufficient. Beyond that, the digital zoom isn’t amazing – but it never is so that’s not a surprise. You can get useable results up to around 10x if you’re not being too picky.

　　A low light image taken with the Oppo Find N5, 1x Lens. Image: Amy Davies

　　A low light image taken with the Oppo Find N5, Ultrawide Lens. Image: Amy Davies

　　A low light image taken with the Oppo Find N5, 3.5x Lens. Image: Amy Davies In low light, results are fairly good. Not amazing, but certainly good enough and certainly comparable with other mid-range to high-end phones. The ultrawide struggles in low light, with a lack of detail and plenty of smudging, so if that’s something you’re thinking of doing often, then you may be disappointed, but stick with the 1x lens and you get some pretty decent shots. The zoom in low light actually just uses the main sensor and crops, so although you get some passable results at 2x, again, it’s not something to rely on.

　　Portrait mode produces some lovely results, with fairly natural looking shallow depth of field effects.

　　The same is true of the selfie camera, which can be used in conjunction with the portrait mode for good effect, too. Remember you can also use the main camera to take selfies too, if you prefer just open the screen to the front while the camera app is launched.

　　With the telephoto macro mode, you can get some really nice close-up images, far better than I’ve seen from most other folding phones, and easily good enough to rival some of the bar phones out there. Sometimes you get some strange bokeh when using this mode, but some may like it.

　　Oppo Find N5: Value for Money This section is a hard one to write when you can’t actually buy it in most places. In Singapore, it retails for SD$2,499, which is about US$1800/£1400. That would make it cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

　　I’ve seen it available for around that converted price on third-party resellers, such as eBay. I’d exercise extreme caution there – although you are technically saving money compared to the Samsung and Google options, there’s a lot to be said for having your consumer rights protected by buying directly in your home territory.

　　If – and it seems like a big if – the Find N5 does make it’s way to different markets and the price translates as above, it will be very competitively priced. Similarly, if OnePlus launches its equivalent phone at that price, it should be a great buy.

　　For now – if you happen to be reading this in a market where you can buy the Find N5 in official channels, it’s a good price. Elsewhere, buyer beware.

　　Oppo Find N5: Verdict There’s absolutely loads to love about this folding smartphone. Its compact size, shape and weight really do make you feel like you’re using a regular phone most of the time, only you’ve got a secret tablet with you when you need it.

　　It’s also capable of taking some pretty impressive pictures, and actually leaves me feeling like someone has actually given a hoot about photographers when putting the cameras into this thing.

　　And all of that inside something which, in theory at least, is priced competitively against folding units from bigger names on the market, namely Samsung and Google.

　　Only, that’s exactly what it is, “in theory.” If I wanted to buy this phone, I couldn’t, because I’m not in one of the markets that Oppo has decided to sell it in. And that’s hugely disappointing. I’m of course not privy to decisions that Oppo makes regarding market availability, but having this one as highly limited is a bit baffling to me – perhaps the company feels that the appetite for high-quality folding smartphones simply isn’t there in some parts of the world.

　　Either way, if you want a folding phone as good as the Oppo Find N5 and you’re anywhere other than Singapore, bad luck. I hope it eventually widens its availability – or – OnePlus uses its template to create something equally as good.

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