Oppo thinks that the prices of foldables won’t drop anytime soon

Foldables! Foldables here and there, and we’ve been waiting years for them to peak at a height where users won’t need to worry about them falling apart or being filled with software glitches. And since foldable smartphones are improving year by year and we continue seeing companies make them, why are their prices still so high?That’s a very natural question to ask and it is also one that got asked at Oppo’s senior product and strategy teams during a Q&A at the undergoing MWC (Mobile World Congress). And asking such questions towards Oppo in particular makes total sense. It takes courage to go against a behemoth like Samsung and its Galaxy Z Fold 4 or Z Flip 4, both of which among the best foldable smartphones on the market.These technical marvels didn’t dissuade Oppo from doing its best, and its Find N2 totally proves why: the foldable phone almost got rid of the crease! As if that was not enough, the Oppo Find N2 Flip was also recently released and it brought the best display a clamshell foldable has ever seen at a bargain price.

Okay, admittedly, “bargain price” is pushing it. Even if foldables like the Find N2 Flip are definitely more affordable when compared to the competition, the price tag is still quite far from midrange phones. But we’ve been seeing new foldables for years, so when are they finally going to become more affordable for people with tighter budgets?

Well, Billi Zhang — Oppo’s vice president for overseas sales — went into details about this phenomenon during the Q&A. To put things bluntly: until foldables start seeing even wider adoption rates and selling more units, the price drop won’t come. Regardless of how good companies are at making this type of smartphones, the tech is still expensive, and so is the research required to push the boundaries that leads to improved yearly iterations.

Zhang gave an example of a foldable that has a weaker SoC, no external screen and underperforming cameras, then described it as a bad product that users will not be interested in, even if it comes at the price of a midrange smartphone.