So This is Peak Foldable

0:02 Okay, so I've been saying for years that foldables are for early adopters only,

0:06 and they don't make sense for regular

0:08 people until the only difference between a foldable

0:11 and a regular phone is the fact that one of them happens to fold in half,

0:15 and there's no other compromises.

0:16 So when this all got started seven years ago with the Galaxy Fold 1,

0:20 it was really exciting that it folded in half,

0:22 but there were obviously a ton of compromises back

0:25 then to make that happen for the first time.

0:27 From the huge bezels on that cover screen, to...

0:30 to the smaller, subpar cameras and battery and other specs,

0:33 the extremely compromised durability,

0:34 and of course the crease, the massive crease through the middle.

0:38 So every year, foldables have gotten better and better

0:41 and better and better from a bunch of different companies...

0:44 as they slowly tackled each one of those compromises...

0:47 So foldables have gotten thinner, and they've gotten bigger batteries,

0:50 and they've gotten better hinges and smaller creases,

0:53 and that's all led to this.

0:54 The Oppo Find N6 does seem kind of random that this is now peak foldable,

0:58 but I actually think by the end of this video you'll agree with me.

1:02 So the obvious problem number one with old foldables

1:04 was that they sucked to use one-handed since they're thicker,

1:08 they have worse bezels,

1:09 and just they're generally compromised versus a normal slab phone.

1:12 But we've seen this string of thinner foldable phones,

1:14 especially in the past few years,

1:16 and now you look at the Oppo Find N6 from the front,

1:19 you'd hardly know it's just a normal slab phone.

1:21 Now you do have the telltale, but asymmetrical,

1:23 metal, so rounded corners on one side,

1:24 square corners on the hinge side; that's how you'd be able to know.

1:27 But other than that, it just looks like a normal 6.6-inch phone.

1:31 Oppo has been absolutely cooking with the materials and the build,

1:34 so when you pick it up and use it,

1:36 it genuinely feels like a regular slab phone because it's the same size as one.

1:40 Now this phone is just under 9 millimeters thin and weighs around 230 grams.

1:44 For context, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is also

1:47 just under 9 millimeters thin and around 230 grams.

1:49 So...

1:49 so this is effectively a no-compromises...

1:51 normal phone, at least dimensions-wise before you even open the thing.

1:55 So many of the previous foldables,

1:57 I remember using them and it was like you can use the outside screen, but you...

2:01 didn't really want to; you'd rather just open

2:03 it up and get to the better screen.

2:05 But this, you could just use like normal.

2:07 It's perfectly fine to take pictures with, to watch videos

2:11 on, to text on, because the keyboard isn't too small,

2:14 it's a normal aspect ratio.

2:15 It's great.

2:16 And it also has all the flagship specs by the way:

2:19 3600 nits peak brightness, and...

2:20 1800 nits fullscreen.

2:21 So it's very viewable everywhere outdoors.

2:24 Super responsive, 1-120Hz LTPO, high-frequency PWM dimming, the whole thing.

2:29 Now, folding in half also always has presented a bunch

2:31 of challenges with just the physics of fitting stuff in a smaller,

2:35 thinner form factor that has to split.

2:37 So for years these folding phones never really

2:40 had flagship cameras because there wasn't enough room.

2:42 And also the batteries would always be smaller because

2:45 they had to split it in half around a hinge,

2:47 which is tough 'cause you're trying to power a bigger display.

2:50 But it's 2026.

2:51 So now of course the tech has evolved

2:53 to the point where we have silicon-carbon batteries.

2:56 And this ultra-thin phone split in half still

2:59 has a total of a 6,000 mAh battery!

3:01 which is more than a lot of slab phones already,

3:04 plus 80-watt charging and 50-watt wireless charging.

3:06 And then as far as cameras:

3:08 so the physical sensor size can never quite be the same as a slab phone,

3:12 because again, it's split in half.

3:14 So there's just not as much room in the Z-axis dimension.

3:17 But there has been development of some big sen...

3:21 with shallow Z-axis thickness specifically to fit in thinner phones.

3:25 So this phone has the same ISOCELL HP5

3:28 sensor that's in the S25 Edge 200 megapixels,

3:31 1/1.56 inches, optically stabilized.

3:33 So there is that, plus a 50-megapixel ultrawide and a 50-megapixel 3x telephoto.

3:39 And then, I don't know if you remember,

3:41 but folding phones used to have significantly lesser chips too.

3:44 Less room inside, less...

3:46 less room for cooling.

3:47 This phone has a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 inside,

3:49 but a binned version with one less core.

3:51 So for all intents and purposes,

3:53 I think we can say it's a flagship chip and maximizing

3:56 what you can do in that thin of a space.

3:58 Plus, there's a new dedicated S1 chip for better network performance...

4:02 So now, despite being ultra-thin and chopped in half,

4:05 this thing has flagship displays,

4:06 flagship chips, flagship specs, high-end cameras.

4:09 It's also IP59 water- and dust-resistance rated,

4:12 which used to be nuts for foldables, but now you can just...

4:15 spill water on this thing and it'll be fine.

4:17 But the pièce de résistance for this N6 is,

4:21 without question, this center display.

4:24 For years...

4:25 for folding phones, we've gotten used to them, you know,

4:28 having an amazing folding screen, but also having a small crease...

4:32 in the middle.

4:32 And the crease, you know, it's just one of those things where on most phones,

4:36 most of the time, it doesn't bother you.

4:38 Trust me, as someone who's used these phones,

4:40 I've said before: it's like bezels.

4:41 Most of the time, you're just looking at the content or reading or typing,

4:45 so you're not really seeing it.

4:46 But every once in a while, it catches the light the right way,

4:49 or you run your finger over it...

4:51 and it just hits.

4:51 You're reminded of it, and so you can still notice it sometimes.

4:54 but!...

4:55 not with this phone.

4:56 So the N6 has this new thing they developed called the No-Feel Crease.

5:00 And I'd seen the marketing, I'd heard, I'd watched some videos about it,

5:03 but they're mostly sponsored, so I was a bit skeptical...

5:06 Okay.

5:06 But I got it in my hands, and this thing is actually super impressive!

5:10 You open it up, it's the classic big square, 8.1 inches,

5:13 corner-to-corner, same fullscreen brightness,

5:15 same 1-120Hz LTPO, same PWM dimming.

5:17 But you might notice there's basically no perceptible crease here.

5:21 I mean, there's...

5:22 there's a little bit of crease if you're really looking for it.

5:25 But compared to other foldables we've seen and that I've used,

5:29 this is basically no crease.

5:31 And the extra bit of engineering that goes into solving...

5:34 this last problem is actually...

5:37 very intricate.

5:38 And they're already doing a bunch of the stuff that everyone else has already

5:42 thought of, like softening the crease radius

5:44 by doing a teardrop shape when it's folded.

5:47 But the main innovation here is with this hinge:

5:50 they literally laser-scan each individual titanium hinge

5:53 to map the slightest variations across the surface.

5:56 Then...

5:57 3D-print a liquid polymer to fill in the exact...

6:00 micro-gaps to perfectly smooth out...

6:02 the hinge, and then harden it

6:04 with ultraviolet light it is incredibly complicated.

6:06 But the end result...

6:07 is they minimize the surface-level variations across the hinge...

6:11 from 0.2 millimeters down to 0.05...

6:13 millimeters, which is apparently less than half a human hair thickness.

6:17 So that, combined with the slightly thicker

6:20 layer of top glass that they're using,

6:22 really makes a big visual difference and feel difference.

6:25 A lot of these foldables also,

6:27 they look great out the box, but the more you use it,

6:31 as you know, the more you fold and unfold it,

6:33 the deeper that crease becomes, the more you notice it.

6:36 This process, they're saying is good for 600,000

6:40 folds and still not showing any significant crease.

6:43 which, you know, obviously I've been folding and unfolding this a lot...

6:47 but not that many times, so I'm just going to have to take their word for it.

6:51 But yeah, now...

6:52 that really that's the last few percent...

6:54 of like, quality of life when you're using a foldable, never really...

6:58 noticing or perceiving the crease...

7:00 at all.

7:01 And the cherry on top is, unlike Samsung's Fold, it actually has pen support...

7:05 So there's this little half case you can snap on the back of this phone

7:09 that holds the pen near the coil

7:11 so it wireless charges from the phone's battery.

7:13 And then yeah, it works on both the front cover screen...

7:17 and...

7:17 the interior display with more than 4,000

7:19 levels of pressure sensitivity and minimal lag.

7:22 So if you're the artist type or the handwritten note type,

7:25 this display has digitizer layer to keep that dream alive.

7:28 And yes, it charges because it does have Bluetooth,

7:32 so it can still be used as a remote camera shutter.

7:36 So now in 2026, this Oppo Find N6...

7:38 is complete...

7:39 as far as I'm concerned.

7:41 We've gone through one by one each

7:44 of the potential compromises of a folding phone...

7:47 and engineered them away.

7:49 So aside from the price tag, of course,

7:51 this is effectively a regular phone that just happens to fold in half.

7:57 And so yeah, peak foldable...

7:58 we've arrived, I guess,

8:00 which of course got me thinking about the obvious elephant in the room.

8:04 We are saying all of this before Apple jumps

8:07 in the ring with what we expect to be a folding iPhone.

8:09 The rumors are saying it's probably going to be this year, end of this year.

8:13 And actually that makes perfect sense because

8:14 that's what Apple does with emerging technologies.

8:17 That's kind of their thing.

8:18 They'll sit on the sidelines for the first

8:20 few cycles while the the most aggressive,

8:22 daring companies innovate and work out all

8:24 the bugs and the kinks and the compromises.

8:27 And then once that technology is mature enough,

8:30 that's when they jump in with all

8:32 the learnings from everyone else and like an Apple-ified...

8:34 version of it.

8:35 So that's Vision Pro jumping into the world

8:37 that already existed of VR headsets...

8:39 that's HomePod jumping into the world that already existed of smart speakers.

8:43 Heck, that's what the original iPhone did,

8:46 jumping into the already existing world...

8:48 of mobile phones.

8:49 So now that we're at peak foldable and we've sort of engineered away

8:53 the compromises and we've got to this point where the tech is mature,

8:57 it's ready for Apple to jump in if they wanted to and...

9:00 do their own...

9:01 Apple-ified version.

9:02 The question is what is the, what is the Apple-ified thing for a foldable?

9:06 Because you know, typically when they jump in a new category,

9:09 their cheat code is just by making theirs

9:12 the version that works well with the iPhone...

9:14 and that automatically gets you a bunch of users from iPhone land.

9:17 But this is an iPhone Fold...

9:19 So what's the trick?

9:20 Will it, like, run a special iPadOS when it's open?

9:23 Or maybe, you know, every foldable

9:25 has multi-window support and extra multitasking features,

9:28 so maybe that will make its way to the iPhone Fold too.

9:31 Maybe...

9:31 Don't really know, software-wise.

9:33 But the one big, weird thing that the rumors

9:36 are actually pointing to is playing with aspect ratio again.

9:40 Cause so many of these modern foldables,

9:42 full-size folds have trended towards the, like,

9:45 regular slab phone aspect ratio when it's closed.

9:47 And we talked about this, that leaves you

9:49 with the square when you open it up, which is bigger.

9:52 But it is a little bit compromised.

9:54 It's not as good for widescreen media, things like that.

9:57 But this iPhone Fold is supposed to be more of a small,

10:00 passport-style, so a short, squat,

10:02 like five-and-a-half-inch display while it's closed,

10:05 and then that opens up to an almost 8-inch widescreen,

10:08 kind of like a portable iPad mini.

10:10 There's a little bit of a throwback.

10:12 We used to see more interesting shapes in folds

10:14 a couple years ago even from earlier Oppo Find Ns.

10:16 So this won't be the first to try it, and it certainly won't be the last.

10:19 We'll see how much of the other stuff like the no-feel crease...

10:22 and the super-thin build...

10:23 silicon-carbon battery, flagship cameras,

10:25 we'll see how much of that other stuff makes

10:27 it to the iPhone Fold as well later this year.

10:30 But we'll see.

10:31 I'm looking forward to it.

10:32 Also subscribe to be among the first to see that when it does come out,

10:35 because we'll cover it here on the channel.

10:38 Thanks for watching.

10:40 Catch you guys in the next one.

10:42 Peace!