OPPO Find N5 foldable phone review: This is what spoiling the market looks like

Fold-tastic or a fold-tasy?

The OPPO Find N5 sure took its time to return to its international stage, and OPPO wants you to think that the time was well spent.

OPPO has somehow come up with the thinnest bi-fold phone, with both sides clocking in at just 4.21mm thin while squeezing a 5,600mAh battery, IPX8 + IPX9 rated water resistant build, and even packing in a 7-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. Did they make a deal with the devil to come up with this phone?

OPPO has also done many things to avoid the same tired excuses that foldable phone makers like to use. The brand also claimed that the Find N5 has a shallower crease and decent Hasselblad-tuned rear shooters, including a 3x optical zoom periscope telephoto camera.

They've also updated a few things, like finally adding 50W wireless charging and making sure both its displays meet the standards of premium-grade phone lovers.

So, is the S$2,499 (512GB) OPPO Find N5 all it’s cracked out to be? Do the engineering feats come with caveats, or is it simply relying on cheeky marketing? Let’s find out right after this comparison table of the new Find N5 versus its predecessor in a quick specs comparison.

Thinner and lighter isn’t just for show

The OPPO Find N5 addresses several design limitations found in older book-style foldables, which we will cover point by point below.

A huge deal about OPPO Find N5 was its extremely thin 4.21mm profile. When unfolded, it’s one of the slimmest book-style foldable phones money can buy. OPPO drove this point home by beating it over everyone’s heads across its marketing materials. 

Surprisingly, our testing revealed many legitimate reasons to feel excited about this change. When folded, OPPO’s phone measures 8.93mm, comparable to standard bar-type phones like the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max (8.25mm) and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (8.2mm).

If you recall, such foldables are typically 12mm when folded, with the previous champion being Honor Magic V3 at 9.2mm.

The thickness reduction follows its weight (229g). Using the Find N5 in a folded state doesn't strain your supporting pinky finger as much. It’s almost as heavy as the phones mentioned above (Apple at 227g and Samsung at 218g). It’s also almost as light as Honor’s 2025 foldable (226g if using the Glass variant).

The finer hardware touches to seal the deal

However, OPPO took advantage of Find N5’s build with other crucial improvements that elevate its appeal.

One is the USB-C port, which OPPO has customised to fit the 4.21mm allowance. It works well with off-brand and third-party USB-C cables — the ones we had lying around could charge and transfer files without notable issues. We’re glad this USB-C port challenge was addressed from the very start.

Next is the 8.12-inch main display/inner screen (2,248 x 2,480 pixels resolution, LTPO AMOLED with a 1-120Hz refresh rate). For the price it commands, it has the expected blue-blooded panel perks like HDR10+/Dolby Vision compatibility and extreme brightness control (1,400 nits outdoor and 2,100 nits peak).

But the differentiator is the barely existing crease. OPPO said it’s now 50% shallower and 10% narrower than its already diminished crease on the OPPO Find N3, which (in our experience) was already the least noticeable among previous foldables.

From real-world experience, the crease is barely visible when the screen is powered off. It was a real struggle finding the crease when we navigated the Home Screen or viewed content, even after putting it through multiple unfolds over a few weeks. Our usual method of figuring out the crease’s depth (running a naked finger across the panel) was no longer reliable. Short of a tiny bump, you won’t notice it during use.

The 6.62-inch outer panel (2,616 x 1,140 pixels resolution, LTPO AMOLED) adds yet another flourish. 

First, it’s almost as feature-filled as its inner screen: You still get 1-120Hz refresh rates and extreme brightness control (1,600 nits outdoors, 2,450 nits peak).

The only difference is that it supports ProXDR (OPPO’s display technology for handling brightness in certain parts of the images shown) and photos taken using Android’s Ultra HDR. So, you still have to unfold when you want to watch Dolby Vision and HDR10+ content.

The real perk of this panel is the aspect ratio. At 20.7:9, it’s a very standard aspect ratio similar to most bar-type premium phones. This choice also means it's decently optimised for 16:9 content without being too “narrow” on the viewing experience.

Together, the outer panel is more than sufficient for regular phone needs (as a viewfinder for taking photos, replying to messages and emails, scrolling on Instagram, and maybe TikTok).

When unfolded, the inner screen's nearly square (9.9:9) aspect ratio shows its value when you find a spot to sit down and better immerse yourself in multiple apps or an entire episode on Netflix or Disney+.

Altogether, OPPO Find N5's dramatically slim profile and optimised panels translate well to everyday use. You don’t have to make special allowances to carry, fit, and wield it. 

It works like a typical Apple or Samsung high-powered phone for day-to-day use when folded. When unfolded, you magically get the content immersion and multi-tasking needs satisfied, which is the main reason to buy a book-style foldable.

A new normal for book-style foldable design 

What’s not discussed enough is the camera housing, which is much slimmer than the 2025 rival foldable Honor Magic V3 (Honor’s version also makes the phone feel top-heavy, while Find N3 feels more balanced in hand). 

Also less mentioned is how parallel the folded halves are, which completely debunks whatever excuses Samsung had for its Galaxy Z Fold6 design constraints.

Adding other minor perks, like being IP-rated for dust resistance and eliminating jutting corner bezels on the outer screen, could have made it a truly stunning foldable phone. Still, we want to credit OPPO for already achieving such engineering precision in this iteration. 

The OPPO Find N5’s design and handling have set the new baseline standard for what would define an expensive, premium-grade, IP-rated foldable phone. Without this level of polish, it would be difficult for forthcoming contenders to compete in the premium foldable category. 

Minimal pre-installed apps

The phone runs on ColorOS 15, OPPO’s proprietary version of Android 15. You can read more about ColorOS 15 here, which helps this review explore perks specific to the foldable.

The OPPO Find N5’s pre-installed apps are pretty manageable, even if they look numerous. They are either OPPO apps (e.g., File Manager, Camera, Calculator, App Market, etc.) or Google apps (Google Play Store, Gmail, Google Meet, Google Maps, YouTube, etc.), with a tiny handful of popular or commonly used third-party ones (Lazada, Shopee, Instagram, iQiyi, etc.).

Before the OPPO Find N5's launch, the company faced backlash over a pre-installed third-party app (Fineasy) that caught the attention of Thai authorities and resulted in a formal investigation and a public apology.

Since then, OPPO has said apps like Fineasy will no longer be pre-installed on its devices. Based on our retail-ready software and phone review unit, we’re happy that OPPO kept its word. 

It also looks like its existence was erased (which makes it extremely hard to verify the authenticity and origins of this app). It is unavailable on the Google Play Store or OPPO’s App Market. It’s also not found on popular third-party APK hosting sites like APKPure. We also spoke to OPPO, and it reassured us that it’s removed globally as well.

In a way, it’s great that such dodgy apps are gone for good. 

Imaging performance

While OPPO Find N5 does pack Hasselblad-tuned cameras, it's not as outfitted as the Find X8 Pro. However, it does try to offer camera features that other foldables either don't bother to or can't:

• 50MP main camera (f/1.89, OIS, 21mm), same sensor on Find X8
• 50MP periscope telephoto camera (f/2.6, 10cm focal distance for macro, 70mm)
• 8MP ultrawide camera (f/2.2, AutoFocus, 116° FOV, 15mm)

The hardware isn't as advanced as the OPPO Find X8 Pro. Still, OPPO admitted that it is a work in progress to bring its shooting capabilities and versatility up to the same standard as bar-type phones.

However, we're more interested in knowing if it's better than other foldables (such as Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 and Honor Magic V3). Imaging samples below.

Right off the bat, it's evident that the main camera is the strongest shooter among its triple rear cameras. It has excellent colourisation, detail retention, and noise handling. From its photo, you can make out the building's unique design and all the different clothing materials worn by the many commuters crossing the road.

OPPO Find N5's main camera quality seems to be on par with Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6's, and more capable at taking in natural light than the Honor Magic V3's main camera.

The OPPO Find N5's 3x optical zoom (and its resulting 6x lossless zoom) are also very strong candidates. While it doesn't have the same contrast and shadow handling as its primary camera, the zoom lens is just as bright, just as detailed, and has equally strong colourisation.

It's surprising that the OPPO Find N5's 8MP ultrawide camera is able to match its other cameras in terms of colour accuracy.

While it's no OPPO Find X8 Pro, the cameras on the OPPO Find N5 still exceed a regular person's needs for good, social media-ready photos at their fingertips.

This is how we knew Find N5 had some ways to go before it could stand up to Find X8 Pro. The Find X8 Pro shots were taken at night (and the phone handled it competently), while the Find N5's indoor shots aren't as brightly lit, with some contrast handling issues. While it's still very detailed and usable, you will need to put in some photo-editing work to bring out its shadows.

That said, we're still pleased with the cameras offered on Find N5. We look forward to possible improvements that would truly elevate this already impressive foldable to the level of top-end bar-type smartphone photography.

Benchmark performance

The good news: OPPO Find N5 uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, generally regarded as the premium chipset for 2025 Android phones if our previous benchmarks are any indication.

The bad news: It’s the 7-core version instead of the full 8-core ones found on the Honor Magic7 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. The 7-core version has one fewer 3.53GHz efficiency core while keeping its two prime cores. The prime cores still have their standard clock rate, 4.32GHz.

According to OPPO, it was a conscious choice to balance the Find N5’s performance against its power consumption, and the slim design did contribute to its challenges. However, OPPO assured that the regular Snapdragon 8 Elite’s single-core CPU, GPU, and AI processing capabilities are the same (which should hold true based on the product sheets of both processors). 

While we are certain it will be leagues ahead of its predecessor (the OPPO Find N3), we’ll also see if it’s any worse than the Honor Magic7 Pro’s full-core Snapdragon chip. We will also compare it against the MediaTek-backed OPPO Find X8 Pro to see if there are any differences between chipset brands (spoiler alert: of course there are, but how are they different?)

Other entrants on this list are other popular and modern book-style foldables we’ve tested thus far.

Putting it to the test

To find out how the competitors line up specs and price-wise, check them out in this link.

To find out more about the tests we conduct and what they relate to, we've jotted them down here.

Benchmark performance remarks

When up against phones with the 8-core Snapdragon 8 Elite (Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Honor Magic7 Pro), the 7-core version on OPPO Find N5 does show that good optimisation can bring it closer to full-fledged performance. However, it was no match against the Galaxy S25 Ultra's customised "for Galaxy" chip.

That said, the OPPO Find N5 blows all other recent foldables out of the water and keeps pace with its premium bar-type, the OPPO Find X8 Pro (backed by a MediaTek Dimensity 9400).

The phone kept to operating temperatures of 35°C during benchmarks.

Battery Life

Our battery benchmark uses PCMark for Android’s Work 3.0 Battery Life test to determine a modern Android-based smartphone's battery uptime in minutes. This controlled benchmark simulates real-world usage, including web and social media browsing, video and photo editing, parsing data with various file formats, writing (on documents), and more.

The OPPO Find N5 contains a silicon-carbon battery, which explains how it fits 5,600mAh inside its super-slim profile. It offers decent uptime (13 hours 19 minutes), which could result from OPPO's choice to have a higher-than-normal silicon content (10%) for its silicon-carbon blend.

It effectively performs longer than the Honor Magic V3 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6, with 60-100 minutes more on the clock. For reference, Magic V3 also uses a silicon-carbon battery.

The battery also takes about 70 minutes to charge from 0 to 100%, making it one of the fastest-charging smartphones available today (on average, high-speed charging takes 60-80 minutes, while “normal” charging usually takes two hours). 

Note: The OPPO Find N5 has an optional Smart Charging feature that prevents overcharging and prolongs battery longevity. However, you might want to disable it to enjoy longer uptime instead of the recommended 80% “max” charge.

While we didn’t test the wireless charging speeds, we did try it and found out that the wireless coil is placed below the massive camera housing and has magnetic properties. However, you will need a compatible magnetic case and accompanying charging puck because OPPO said the phone is physically too thin to hold more magnets.

If you bought the phone during its pre-order phase, you would have gotten the magnetic case and puck for free, but the phone’s magnetic case is not on sale at the time of writing this review. 

Nonetheless, we’re glad it got wireless charging since it was previously unavailable on the OPPO Find N3. 

Conclusion

Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else in between — we finally have a book-style foldable suitable for the masses who want it to be just as good as the best bar-type phones in the market.

The OPPO Find N5's core value proposition is that it’s a foldable phone with a normal phone's form factor. We’ve covered how its fancy product engineering feats solve crucial flaws and limitations of older foldable phones. It goes beyond being slim and offers a near-creaseless display, for starters. 

The OPPO Find N5 also shines because it uses premium components. Their combined efforts translate into its flagship performance during daily use, the prowess of its cameras, and its lengthier battery life. Its ColorOS 15 operating system is also much friendlier and smoother than most competitors.

The cherries on top are the IPX8 + IPX9 ratings, helping to ensure the phone can withstand clean water submersion and close-range, high-pressure water jets. That and wireless charging elevate its status as a premium phone.

Is it a perfect foldable? We won't know if the folding holds up unless we review it over the years. We also wouldn’t mind having a phone with dust resistance, slimmer display bezels, magnetic wireless charging without a case, a full-core Snapdragon chipset, and even better cameras to compete with the best non-foldable phones.

However, even our long wishlist doesn't stop the OPPO Find N5 from sitting at the top for book-style foldables today.

While we cannot deny that the OPPO Find N5’s official retail price of S$2,499 (512GB) is much higher than the Honor Magic V3 (S$1,999, 512GB), OPPO managed to show exactly how you get more perks by paying more. These include relatively better cameras and battery life, a less obvious crease, and a slimmer design. The performance is comparable, too.

However, people love salacious claims, so here’s one: the OPPO Find N5 has the S$2,548 (256GB) Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 in its crosshairs. OPPO corrected Samsung's long-time flaws while sliding in with a lower official sticker price and higher base storage. Not only did it resolve thickness and crease issues, but the OPPO Find N5 doesn't have a 'triangle profile' when folded. The cameras, battery uptime, and performance are all better, too. 

Before Samsung fanboys get upset, you can take pride knowing that we didn't bother comparing OPPO's phone to the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold (S$2,399, 256GB). Chances are, you might have also forgotten that Google has a foldable available in Singapore.

That means your book-style foldable choices are between Find N5 and maybe the equally high-end Honor Magic V3 if you want to save more money and don’t mind minor sacrifices in cameras, software, and battery uptime.

Existing book-style users owe it to themselves to switch to the OPPO Find N5 to truly experience what foldables should be, not what their favourite brands tell them they deserve.

For non-foldable users with the money and the appetite to try, we can confidently say you should give OPPO Find N5 a chance, given the journey this form factor has undertaken to get where it is today.

As for other upcoming foldable competitors, beware: if you cannot get a crease as minimal, a body as slim, with an external display just like conventional bar-type phones, offer photography chops almost as good as regular phones, you would be hard-pressed to compete comfortably against the Oppo Find N5. 

You can also no longer convince keen consumers to accept the status quo, or justify thick, unglamorous foldables with visible creases.

In Singaporean parlance, OPPO 'spoil market'.

Congratulations on getting our Editors’ Choice, Find N5. You’ve earned it.

The OPPO Find N5's official retail price is S$2,499 in one configuration (16GB RAM+512GB storage). Find it at OPPO Concept Stores, OPPO Online Store, Amazon, Lazada, Shopee, TikTok Shop, and other authorised retailers.

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