The foldables smartphone market in Kenya is getting pretty exciting and variety is a good thing for consumers.

In the clamshell style foldable format, we have the just launched Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5[Review] and the OPPO Find N2 Flip[Review] and in this comparison review, they go head to head.

OPPO Find N2 Flip vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 Hinge

DESIGN

The N2 Flip and the Flip5 are incredibly designed smartphones. Samsung has caught up with its rivals as its fifth-gen foldables now have a waterdrop hinge they’re calling Flex Hinge which makes the phone close completely when folded with no gap left. The N2 Flip has a New Generation Flexion Hinge.

OPPO Find N2 Flip vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 Closed Hinge

The Flip5 also follows the trend of sporting a large cover screen.

The Flip5 has a 3.4″ Super AMOLED “Flex Window” that is 180% bigger than the one on the Flip4 from last year and protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The N2 Flip has a 3.26″ AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 5 protection.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 vs OPPO Find N2 Flip Techweez

The Flip5 has the same weight as the Flip4 and is relatively lighter than the N2 Flip. They both have aluminium frames with Samsung using Armor aluminium frame and the company says it is now even tougher for scratch resistance and drops.

The Flip5 feels more premium with its glass back and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection compared to the plastic back of the N2 Flip. They both look really good. The N2 Flip comes in two colours – glossy Moonlit Purple or Astral Black(our unit) which has a frosted antiglare finish while the Flip5 comes in Graphite and Lavender.

The N2 Flip has IPX4 rating for water splash resistance while the Flip5 has IPX8 rating for water resistance – they both don’t have dust resistance.

The crease on the inner display of the Flip5 is the same as the one on the Flip4 while remaining invisible on the N2 Flip.

The cover displays of both phones let you access the notification panel, quick settings toggle, multiple widgets, and mini-apps. Both companies offer customizable options to personalize the cover screen- from clock faces, styles, always-on display and more. While the N2 Flip supports apps like TikTok and WhatsApp – you’ll need to unfold the phone to access the keyboard.

OPPO Find N2 Flip vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 Cover Screens

This is where Samsung wins as you can easily use the keyboard while the phone is folded. It has support for a dozen apps but the aspect ratio makes using apps on the cover display a little bit tricky.

The Motorola Razor+(40 Ultra) takes the crown as it has an even bigger 3.6″ AMOLED cover screen(1056p, 144Hz) and you can open the app library to access all apps right from the cover display – that’s the bar OPPO and Samsung have to reach.

OPPO goes for a bigger screen at 6.8 inches against 6.7 inches of the Flip5. However, the Flip5 is brighter outdoors at 1750 nits over 800 nits of the N2 Flip. The difference is significant when outdoors as we had a small hands-on time with the Flip5. Both screens are AMOLEDs with 120Hz refresh rate.

OPPO Find N2 Flip vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 Inner Screens

The Flip5 has a higher pixel density for the cover display and the inner screen. The Flip5 has 425 ppi density against 403 ppi of the N2 Flip for the main screen and 306 ppi against 250 ppi for the cover screen.

While both screens are usable outdoors, Samsung wins it here with brighter and high-resolution main and cover screens.

Most people are opting to get the clamshell foldable want to have a more useful experience with the phones folded and while both companies have made strides to that possible, Samsung wins by a small margin with its relatively larger cover screen that supports more apps compared to the N2 Flip.

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PERFORMANCE

Top-of-the-line processors power both phones – Mediatek Dimensity 9000+ for the N2 Flip and an overclocked Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy for the Flip5. RAM starts at 8GB and 256GB respectively for both phones – UFS 3.1 for OPPO and UFS 4.0 for Samsung. They both run on Android 13 with ColorOS 13.1 for the N2 Flip and OneUI 5.1.1 for Flip5. Both companies have promised 4 years of major Android OS updates and 5 years of security patches.

Both phones can handle light tasks really well as I checked during my brief hands-on time with the Flip5 during its launch event in the country. Synthetic benchmarks put the Qualcomm chip slightly ahead of the flip MediaTek processor with 12% better performance in Antutu and Geekbench. Real-world experience will tell a different story.

CAMERAS

Both phones come with three cameras – a dual main setup and an inner front-facing camera. We have a 50MP main(Sony IMX 890 sensor) and an 8MP ultrawide(Sony IMX 355 sensor) with a 32MP selfie camera(Sony IMX 709 sensor) for the N2 Flip. The main camera shoots videos capped at 4K 30fps while the front-facing caps at 1080p 30fps.

The Flip5 has the same dual 12MP sensors as the Flip4 – a wide with OIS and an ultrawide plus a 10MP selfie camera. All its cameras can shoot 4K video.

OPPO’s cameras ship with exclusive Hasselblad features like the Pro mode with the H icon, X Pan and Natural Colour Calibration.

During my short time with both phones(specifically the Flip5), I managed to get a few photos and I am happy to report that they are both capable camera smartphones.

OPPO goes for a more true-to-life colour for its photos while Samsung does its traditional saturation to make the photos pop for social media. So this will depend on your preference.

OPPO struggled with background separation for some portrait shots. OPPO’s lack of OIS in its main cameras will discourage some mobile photographers. I would also have loved 4K video recording on the selfie camera as well.

The phone’s hinges support folding the phone at a 90-degree angle and use them as tripods to take hands-free photos with either the main or selfie cameras. OPPO calls this style FlexForm Mode while Samsung calls it the FlexCam.

You get a live preview on the cover screen and you can use gestures to trigger the camera to take photos as well.

Overall the camera performance of both phones go toe-to-toe and either will do a perfect job for all your photography and videography needs.

BATTERY LIFE

Samsung’s flip smartphones still have the lowest capacity batteries and slowest charging times in comparison to its rivals. The Flip5 has the same 3700mAh battery as the Flip4 and the same 25W wired charging, 15W wireless charging and 4.5 reverse wireless charging. However, the new processor promises better battery life performance.

The OPPO N2 Flip has a relatively larger 4300mAh battery with 44W wired charging. It doesn’t have wireless charging. Theoretically, it should last longer and charge faster. You can pull up to 7 hours of screen on time with the N2 Flip as I had experienced during my time with the phone[Read my full review here]. Fast charging means you can get to 50% in under 25 minutes while 30 minutes is needed to charge the Flip5 to 50%.

So if you are concerned about battery life, then the N2 Flip is the better pick.

VERDICT

The two phones put up a fair fight even though the N2 Flip is six months older than the Flip5. Overall performance is shoulder to shoulder and that includes photography as well. Strong battery life gives the N2 Flip an edge. The premium design of the Flip5 will win most Galaxy fans.

But pricing highly favours the N2 Flip.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

OPPO Find N2 Flip goes for Ksh 129,999 at select OPPO retail stores. There are financing and trade-in programs OPPO has put in place.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5(256GB) goes for Ksh 193,000 at Samsung’s experience stores, official retail stores, their brandcart store and partner e-commerce sites.

It is available for pre-order till the 11th of this month and each pre-order gets a bundle that includes a Watch 5 for the Fold5 and Buds 2 for the Flip5.

ABSA Credit Card holders can pay for the new gadgets thanks to the bank’s partnership with Samsung. the payments can be done in 3 monthly instalments, 6 months or 12 months installments. This financing plan is available at Samsung Experience stores.

It is worth noting that the Flip4 is much cheaper as you can get it between Ksh 123,000 and Ksh 110,000.

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