The Oppo Find N6 is the first almost crease-free folding smartphone thanks to new hinge and 3D printing technology. This technical advance could encourage other brands, including Apple, to develop similar folding smartphones.
That’s it, it’s here, the Oppo Find N6 is the first folding smartphone without (or almost) folding. We will at least say that it fades so much that the phone, once opened, gives the impression of being a small tablet. How did Oppo manage to achieve this feat that the entire industry envies? What are the potential consequences for the rest of the market. Let’s see it together.
How did Oppo manage to do this?
How did Oppo manage to achieve what all its competitors have struggled to accomplish for so many years? We had the beginnings of a response during a press conference with representatives of the brand, on the sidelines of MWC 2026 in Barcelona, the world telephone show.
First, the brand reworked the hinge itself. This Oppo Find N6 welcomes their second generation of titanium hinge. A hinge is good, but everyone in the industry today knows how to make a quality one. What sets this Oppo apart is the integration of another technology: 3D printing of liquids.
A clever process
The idea is very simple: what creates the fold is the hollow caused by the different roughness, the various variations in altitude between the different components of it. Oppo therefore decided to fill these various holes.
The idea is simple, but the execution is complicated. This goes through several stages. First, engineers come to scan each hinge manufactured in the factory using lasers. Then they come and apply “a tailor-made photosensitive polymer in 3D printing” to fill the crevices. Then comes the phase of “drying” so to speak. The polymer solidifies and thus remains in place thanks to the application of UV light.
The operation is repeated 20 times to gradually flatten the hinge and erase all the rough edges. According to Oppo, the traditional folding of a smartphone revolves around 0.2 mm of hollowness, when their technology allows them to obtain 0.05 mm. Not bad.
Consequences for the market: Apple just has to get started
Let’s move forward a little, on what this development represents for the rest of the market. Tech is both fascinating and annoying: every time a good idea comes along, it doesn’t take 6 months for its competitors to take inspiration from it. If we think in the other direction, when a player manages to bring a technology to maturity and integrate it into a product, it is often a sign that others who are also working on the subject are no longer very far away.
We can therefore imagine, as a first consequence, that the dream of visible “fold-free” screens is within reach and that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and its competitors could have the same advantage.
If we go further, it has often been said that Apple, which we know has been working on a folding iPhone for a long time, would not come out of the woods until the technology was complete. But all the analysts seem to agree to say: that’s it, this time it’s the right one, they’re going to go there in 2026. The appearance at the start of the year of a smartphone without folds such as this Oppo Find N6 clearly suggests that in fact, the way is clear. According to the IDC firm, the arrival of the folding iPhone could cause growth of 30% in the sector.
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