Oppo Find N3 Flip vs Oppo Find N2 Flip: Which should you buy?

The Oppo Find N3 Flip is a clamshell-style foldable that looks to fix a few key complaints from its predecessor, the Oppo Find N2 Flip.

The question is, how do the two foldables compare? Do you have to go on the hunt for the Oppo Find N3 Flip, or could you be just as happy with the year-old Oppo Find N2 Flip?

We’ve spent a lot of time with both the Oppo Find N2 Flip and Oppo Find N3 Flip, and here’s how the two amazing foldables compare. 

Pricing and availability

The Oppo Find N2 Flip was released in March 2023 in the UK and Europe, with a tempting price tag of £849 making it one of the more affordable foldables in the market. It is hard to find in early 2024, however, with not even Oppo stocking it on its online storefront, though you will have some luck on sites like eBay where it can be found at a hefty discount. 

It’s not quite as rosy with the Oppo Find N3 Flip, however; despite rave reviews of its predecessor in the UK, Oppo has decided not to launch the Find N3 Flip in the UK or Europe, focusing instead on Asia and the Middle East. It comes in at S$1499/INR 94,999 (~$1126/£890) in those regions, and it can be imported, but that’ll likely incur additional costs. 

Design

When it comes to the overall design, both the Oppo Find N3 Flip and its predecessor are pretty similar; they’re both clamshell-style foldable phones that fold down into a more portable form factor when not in active use. 

That extends to the finer details of the phones, from the rounded edges to the glossy finish that covers both foldables and even the wavy pattern etched onto the exterior of the hinge. It’s clear to see that these two smartphones are ‘related’.  

That said, you can spot the N3 Flip even when side-by-side with its older sibling thanks to its larger, circular Hasselblad-branded camera bump that sits to the upper right of the cover display. The Find N2 Flip, on the other hand, has two singular camera lenses that sit on the bottom right of the cover display. 

The Find N3 Flip also benefits from the Alert Slider that has previously been exclusive to (Oppo-owned) OnePlus phones, allowing you to quickly switch between silent, vibrate and ring modes without having to look at the phone – a nice touch that our reviewer praised. Unfortunately, there’s nothing of the kind on the Find N2 Flip.

The Find N3 Flip also makes its first steps in the water resistance department; with IPX4 it’s still way behind the likes of the IPX8 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, but it’s an improvement on the Find N2 Flip, which had no official resistance whatsoever. 

Screens

When it comes to screens, both phones sport the exact same 3.26-inch OLED cover screen. It’s a portrait-style screen, a different approach to the likes of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, and serves as a way to access Oppo-designed widgets, reply to messages and open a select few apps without having to unfold the phones.

We praised the usefulness of the cover display of both the Find N2 Flip and Find N3 Flip, though we were disappointed that the latter didn’t offer any notable upgrades, particularly when it came to its rather low 382 x 720 resolution that can make certain elements look a little soft.

The only real difference between the two is the display protection; the Find N2 Flip sports Gorilla Glass 5 while the Find N3 Flip boasts upgraded Gorilla Glass Victus. 

That trend continues when you unfold both foldables, sporting the same 6.8-inch AMOLED screen with premium specs including an LTPO-enabled 120Hz refresh rate and 1600nits peak brightness. 

That said, it shouldn’t come as much surprise to learn that the display experience is great across both foldables, boasting large displays packed with pixels, a super smooth refresh rate and vibrant colours that made doomscrolling all the more visually pleasing.

The infamous foldable crease is near non-existent on both foldables too; it’s there if you look off-angle, but we didn’t really notice it most of the time when actually using the phones. 

Cameras

The Oppo Find N2 Flip boasts a respectable combination of a 50MP f/1.8 main camera with PDAF alongside a basic 8MP 112-degree ultrawide lens. 

While our reviewer noted that the Find N2 Flip’s dual camera setup was indeed a step forward from dual 12MP snappers from the Galaxy Z Flip 4, delivering largely vibrant, detailed images, it struggled in low-light conditions and there was notable artefacting when using the 2x digital zoom. 

The Oppo Find N3 Flip shares many similarities with its main 50MP f/1.8 snapper, though the addition of OIS means that low-light performance is much better on the newer model, along with continuing to capture great shots in well-lit scenarios. 

However, the Find N3 Flip takes things a step further, with not only a hugely upgraded 48MP 114-degree ultrawide but a 32MP 2x telephoto lens. 

That’s immediately noticeable in the ultrawide department, delivering images with a similar quality to the main lens, while the 2x telephoto remains unique among clamshell foldables. It does a much better job than the Find N2 Flip’s digital 2x zoom, with much more detail and accurate colours, though the artefacting did return when cranking the digital zoom up to 5x. 

Still, the Hasselblad-branded camera setup of the Find N3 Flip remains one of the key reasons to opt for it over its predecessor. 

Performance and software

When it comes to general performance, both the Find N2 Flip and Find N3 Flip offer a speedy everyday experience that easily handles just about anything our reviewers could throw at them, including high-end gaming.

More specifically, the Find N2 Flip sports a combination of the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ and 8GB of RAM while the Find N3 Flip takes things a step further with the upgraded MediaTek Dimensity 9200 – the 2023 flagship chipset – and a boosted 12GB of RAM. Both phones come with the same 256- or 512GB storage options too. 

That said, the Oppo Find N3 Flip does outperform its predecessor in most benchmark tests, though as we said, the Find N2 Flip is no performance slouch. Take a look at our benchmark breakdown to see how they compare:

When it comes to software, the Find N2 Flip came running Android 13 with Oppo’s ColorOS 13 out of the box, though it has recently seen the upgrade to Android 14 and ColorOS 14, matching that of the newer Find N3 Flip. 

Though ColorOS isn’t exactly a stock Android skin,  it’s one of the nicer third-party skins out there with an easy-to-use UI, helpful features and plenty of customisation options including full Material You support.

Both phones offer three OS upgrades and four years of security patches, which means that the Find N2 Flip will cap out at Android 16 while the Find N3 Flip should get Android 17 at some point. 

Battery life

Battery life is another area where the Find N2 Flip and Find N3 Flip are near-identical, with both smartphones sporting a 4300mAh battery that we found could just about deliver all-day battery life – though both phones would only have 15-30% left in the tank by the time the day was over. That said, these certainly aren’t two-day devices.

Thankfully, with identical 45W fast charging, both phones can go from flat to full in around an hour. It’s not the fastest charging speeds we’ve ever seen – the OnePlus 12 can gain a full charge in 26 minutes, for example – but it’s fairly speedy for a foldable.

Verdict

It’s clear that the Oppo Find N3 Flip fixes a few key issues with the Find N2 Flip, namely in the camera department, while also boosting performance, introducing IPX4 water resistance and sporting the previously OnePlus-exclusive alert slider that makes it easy to recommend. 

However, the fact that it’s not widely available makes the year-old Find N2 Flip a tempting option for those of us in the UK – even if it’s no longer officially available to buy from Oppo.