Oppo Find X3 release date, price, leaks and potential delays
If there was any question as to whether the Oppo Find X3 series was coming in 2021, the company itself name-dropped the thing at its Inno Day 2020 (where it shows of all its new tech). So the phone series is definitely on our 2021 release radar now.
Oppo is one of the bigger Chinese phone companies, and it's starting to pick up a lot of attention in the west too. Its Find X line is its top offering, and the Find X2 devices in 2020 were some of the best phones of the year.
Other phones we're expecting soon
The Oppo Find X3 range is the next range from the brand we're expecting to see, likely at the beginning of 2021, but perhaps more towards the middle (as we'll get into later in this article). We could see as many as four devices launched.
The latest phones from the company are the Oppo Reno 5 devices; they're usually mid-rangers, but this newest line comes with a fairly premium 'Oppo Reno 5 Pro Plus'. So could the Find X3 family push that further with a super-fancy phone? Maybe.
The Oppo Find X2 line, released in early 2020, started with two phones, the 'standard' and Find X2 Pro, but two more were released a little later, the Find X2 Lite and Find X2 Neo, bringing the total number up to four.
Given there was only one device in the first generation of Find X, that's a slightly different approach for each series, but it's got us pondering what the next device, the Oppo Find X3, could be like. We don't even know when the phone will show up for certain, as this isn't a series that's updated yearly.
We've heard a tiny bit of information that could be about the phone, which we've detailed below, but until we get more, we've also got a wish-list of the features we'd like to see.
Latest leak: Apparently the Oppo Find X3 camera will use a brand-new sensor designed by Sony just for the phone, which could give it a serious photography advantage.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? Oppo's next top-end smartphone line
- When is it out? Probably early 2021
- How much will it cost? No idea, but probably a top price
Oppo Find X3 release date and price
Most smartphone series get annual releases - that wasn't the case for the first two generations of Oppo Find though, with the first out in mid-2020 and the second about two years after that, so there's no guarantee of when we'll see the Oppo Find X3.
Having said that, Oppo has said that its next Find X phone will land in the first quarter of 2021, and it almost certainly means the Oppo Find X3. On top of that, a leaker has specifically said the Find X3 will be announced during that period - but will hit stores early in the second quarter.
We don't have much of an idea on price yet. The price of the Find X2 line ranges from £399 / AU$749 (roughly $530) for the Find X2 Lite to £1,099 / AU$1,599 (about $1,450) for the Find X2 Pro, so for different phones in the line-up we could see vastly different costs.
Leaks, rumors and news
When Oppo confirmed the existence of the Find X3, it did so when describing its Full-Path Color Management System.
Basically, this supports a wider color gamut and better color accuracy for viewed images. Also it ensures visuals don't get compressed or tweaks as a video, image or game goes on its digital journey through the systems only our phone, making sure it looks as good as possible.
Oppo has also confirmed that its next Find X flagship will use the top-end Snapdragon 888 chipset. It didn't mention the Find X3 by name, but that's presumably what it's talking about.
One leak meanwhile suggests that the Oppo Find X3 might have a 3K resolution screen with a high refresh rate, a Snapdragon 875 chipset (which was what the 888 was previously thought to be launching as), fast charging, and a dual-lens camera, all of which is believable, except perhaps the camera, as that sounds like a downgrade.
The Oppo Find X3 Pro meanwhile has been extensively leaked, with Evan Blass (a leaker with a great track record) revealing most of the likely specs.
These include a quad-lens camera with 50MP main, 50MP ultra-wide, 13MP telephoto (with 2x optical zoom) and 3MP macro lenses. The macro one also apparently functions like a microscope, with 25x zoom and lights around the lens.
Other specs apparently include a 6.7-inch curved 1440 x 3216 screen with 525 pixels per inch and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. There's also said to be a 4,500mAh battery with 65W wired and 30W wireless charging, plus the ability to tap either the back or the screen of the phone against card readers to make contactless payments.
The Find X3 Pro will apparently come in black, blue, and later white shades, and will have a choice of a ceramic glaze-like or matte-frosted glass back.
Other than that, we haven't heard any specific Oppo Find X3 leaks, news or rumors, but we've seen a few patents from the company and some tech it's confirmed it's working on, and we could see some of this make its way to the Find X3. There's also one leak that possibly, but not definitely, refers to the Find X3.
This leak is that Oppo is working on a phone with the Snapdragon 870 chipset, which would likely be a 'lite' version of its top-end 888 which will start showing up in phones in early 2021. This phone could be the Find X3, or at least one device in the range, but it also could be a Reno 5 handset instead.
The Oppo Find X2 Pro had a periscope zoom lens first seen in the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom which facilitated the phone's 5x optical, 10x hybrid and 60x digital zoom. Well, it seems Oppo is working on an improved version of this lens, which would bring further optical zoom and better aperture. The company is said to also be working on a special high-res sensor to pair with this lens.
We've also heard the Oppo Find X3 could use the Sony IMX789, a rumored smartphone camera sensor that builds on the IMX689 used in the Oppo Find X2 Pro. This sensor is likely going to be pretty big - that's why the IMX689 was so good - which would let it take in more light, for brighter and bolder photos.
Oppo has shown off 125W fast-charging that could come to phones soon. This would power up a phone with a 4,000mAh battery (an average size) in less than 25 minutes. At the same time the company showed off 65W wireless charging which matches its current wired speeds.
Oppo also recently patented a Li-Fi connected phone which uses light to create super high-speed connection speeds, but this seems a little futuristic to be the Find X3.
What we want to see in the Oppo Find X3
Here are some of the tweaks, changes and new additions we want to see in the Oppo Find X3 series.
1. Wireless charging
We had one complaint in common with all the Oppo Find X2 smartphones we tested: none of them have wireless charging. That's understandable on the budget entries in the range, but given the price of the Pro, we'd expect it there.
Oppo has shown off its 65W wireless charging since thee Find X2's launch, so we'd like to see that in the phones if possible, but if the company opted to go for a slower wireless powering speed for its mid-ranged phones, that would make sense too.
Wireless charging is really useful for people who have such chargers, and with the Find X2 phones being such top products as they are, we'd love to see this one addition.
2. Improved cameras in non-Pro units
While the Oppo Find X2 Pro was an absolute camera beast, the other phones in the line were more 'good not great', with some lenses and sensors you'd expect at the price tag missing.
We'd like to see the Find X3 phones all get both ultra-wide and telephoto lenses, for zoom shots and wide ones. Depth sensing and macro cameras aren't always too useful, and they're no substitute for zoom.
Sure, Oppo's post-processing image optimization is the real champion that makes your pictures look good in the Pro, but we'd like to see the company's great zoom tech appear in more devices.
3. Lower max price
While the Oppo Find X2 line did have affordable devices like the Lite, if you wanted the real top phone you were spending an astronomical amount. In fact, some could argue it was a little too expensive for the phone.
The Oppo Find X2 Pro is very similar to the OnePlus 8 Pro in most ways, and while it arguably pipped ahead in one or two areas (like its zoom camera or screen optimization tech), it cost a lot more too.
If Oppo wanted its Find X3 devices to be really competitive with its rivals, especially OnePlus, the Pro model should come out with a slightly lower price.
4. Faux leather on more phones
You could buy the Oppo Find X2 Pro with a faux leather coating on it, and it made the phone feel incredibly premium (and easier to grip without dropping). We'd like to see every phone in general use this material, but this article is just about the Oppo Find X3, so we'd definitely like these phones to bring back the material.
In fact, while only the Find X2 Pro could come in the material, we'd like to see more of the Find X3 phones come with it - perhaps even the Lite model, although it would possibly bump up the price a bit.
This item on our wish list may contradict another - it's harder to get wireless charging on a smartphone if it's clad in vegan leather. But the point of a wish list is to create a dream line-up of all the specs and features we'd like to see, so we'll ignore the possible impossibility of this.
5. Another affordable 5G phone
We'll end this list by saying we want Oppo to repeat something it did in the Find X2 series, by putting out a super-affordable 5G phone in the form of the Find X2 Lite.
This phone gets 5G in the hands of people who may want it, but are put off by the fact most 5G phones are premium devices. Now you don't need to spend plenty to get 5G connectivity.
We'd like to see the same happen in the Find X3 series, to keep the cheap 5G phone ball rolling.
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