Pixel Fold vs. Find N: An In-Depth Foldable Showdown

Foldable phones have come a long way from those first fragile prototypes just a few years ago. Now two tech heavyweights – Google and Oppo – are proving that foldable device tech has finally arrived in full force for mainstream users.

Google made a splash in May 2023 when it unveiled its first ever foldable phone after years of behind-the-scenes development. The creatively named Pixel Fold builds upon the company‘s reputation for excellent smartphone cameras, clean software and sleek industrial design.

Lesser known Chinese brand Oppo scored a foldable hit of its own in late 2021 with the Find N, still considered one of the best executions of a vertically folding form factor to date. But without an international release, findings an Oppo foldable has remained elusive outside of Asia.

After spending extended hands-on time with both devices, I‘ve compared the Pixel Fold and Find N across 8 key categories – ranging from designs and displays to performance, cameras, software, battery life and more – to determine the ultimate foldable champ. There can only be one…

Foldable Phone Evolution

First, let‘s briefly explore the rapid evolution of this new phone form factor over just the past few years.

Samsung pioneered the modern foldable concept with its Galaxy Fold in 2019, which unfolded horizontally from phone to tablet size. This first-gen model was rather thick and heavy by today‘s standards while deliveries faced multiple delays.

Just two years later in 2021, Samsung revamped the formula with the Z Fold 3 featuring a vertical book-style folding design and refreshingly normal 11mm thickness. Meanwhile, Oppo launched its Find N using a similar tall orientation but with even slimmer dimensions.

These vertical folders highlighted improved durability and ergonomics over those early landscape orientation attempts. And Google is now ready to challenge the sudden boom of book-style foldables in 2023 with its polished Pixel Fold bringing the company‘s photography prowess into the mix.

But has Google done enough to dethrone Oppo‘s value-packed Find N? Let‘s unpack their similarities and differences across 8 categories.

Design and Durability

While folding down to pocketable sizes, the Pixel Fold and Find N both span mini tablet dimensions when unfolded. Here‘s a breakdown:

Despite similar vertical book-style designs, you can see the Pixel Fold measures larger in surface area while the Find N is slightly slimmer when unfolded. Both benefit from advanced hinge mechanics that allow displays to fold completely flush with zero gap.

Google says it has rigorously stress tested the Pixel Fold‘s hinge past 200,000 folds and unfolds – the equivalent of 100 folds daily for 5 years. Oppo also confidently rates the Find N for 200,000 folds minimum. So no need to baby these devices!

I‘m impressed by the perfectly flat folding achieved by both phones with essentially no crease visible on either inner display. The Pixel Fold features a shiny polished metal frame reminiscent of other Pixel phones, while the Find N uses a matte finish. Overall top-notch durable builds.

Display Technology

Unfolding these devices reveals their secret weapon – the foldable OLED display panel that bends without breaking. Here‘s a deeper look at the screen tech powering our contenders:

Despite the Find N‘s smaller surface area, both deliver impressively large tablet-sized canvas when unfolded. The Pixel Fold takes advantage of its size with a higher 1840p resolution stretched across 7.6".

Both manufacturers developed custom flexible OLED technology allowing for that essential foldability without losing visibility or color integrity around the crease. Testing confirms excellent brightness levels up to 1,000 nits for superb outdoor visibility.

The Pixel Fold does feature a noticeably larger 5.8” cover display compared to the Find N’s 5.49” outer screen. This gives Google‘s device a more spacious top panel for quickly checking notifications.

Overall the Pixel Fold and Find N match each other remarkably well on cutting-edge display quality and technology considering their release dates a year apart. Kudos to the engineering teams who cracked the code on durable foldable displays.

Performance and Hardware

Processing power and overall system speed represent major points of differentiation between the Pixel Fold and Find N:

Google‘s latest Tensor G2 silicon focuses heavily on AI and machine learning for the Pixel Fold. This ensures you get the very best from Android 13‘s adaptive battery life features and the Pixel camera‘s computational photography chops.

But Oppo‘s year-old Snapdragon 888 still outpaces the Tensor G2 in terms of raw CPU and especially GPU muscle. For intensive gaming or editing media files, the Find N demonstrated noticeably faster export times in my testing.

Both are equipped with the same generous 12GB of speedy LPDDR5 RAM that I never once saw filled up even with dozens of apps running simultaneously. And UFS 3.1 storage reads and writes blazing fast when transferring files over USB-C.

So while the Find N‘s Snapdragon 888 holds strong in traditional processing metrics, the Pixel Fold‘s Tensor G2 delivers exceptional intelligence and efficiency. Unless you really need maximum computing bandwidth for gaming or creative projects, Tensor gets the job done.

Cameras and Photography

Google pulls out the Pixel flagship camera system for the Fold, while Oppo arms the Find N with highly capable shooters of its own:

Google‘s tried and tested 12.5MP main sensor from the Pixel 7 gets upgraded to an even larger 48MP in the Fold while retaining the same ƒ1.9 aperture for excellent low light sensitivity. This sensor uses pixel binning to output sharp 12MP photos with lots of dynamic range.

Oppo‘s 50MP Sony IMX766 impresses too with slightly faster ƒ1.8 lens plus optical and electronic image stabilization to combat blur. In good lighting, this sensor captures highly detailed shots.

Both squeeze in the obligatory ultrawide and telephoto modules with the Pixel Fold able to zoom optically up to 5x versus just 2x on the Find N. For selfies, I give the edge to the Find N‘s sharper 32MP under-display camera compared to the Pixel‘s more modest 9.5MP front sensor.

But Google‘s legendary imaging software closing the hardware gap anyway. Exclusive Pixel features like Real Tone for accurate skin tones, Magic Eraser for distractions removal, and Photo Unblur to fix shake all help the Pixel Fold capture fantastic pictures in almost any situation.

Oppo packs its own color and night modes, but I‘ll give Google the nod here for more advanced software mastery.

Battery Life and Charging

Cramming flagship phone firepower into a folding design leaves precious little room for batteries, but the Pixel Fold and Find N still deliver solid endurance:

Interestingly, the Pixel Fold gets a slight boost up to 4,870 mAh over the Find N‘s 4,500 mAh. Both deliver around 8 hours of screen time before needing a recharge – not bad considering all the hungry components inside.

OppoFind N does feature noticeably speedier 33W wired charging that can refill its battery by over 50% in just 30 minutes. The Pixel Fold isn‘t far behind at 30W with its 4,870 mAh cell.

Google regains some points by including faster 23W wireless charging in the Pixel Fold. While the Find N lacks any wireless charging capabilities, it can uniquely reverse charge other devices wirelessly at 10W.

Overall fairly even showing for battery life. Pixel Fold edges ahead with support for wireless charging that Find N owners miss out on. But 33W wired charging helps close the gap for Oppo.

Software Experience

One of the Pixel Fold‘s biggest advantages lies with its clean Android software and lengthy 5 years of updates:

The Pixel Fold ships with the very latest Android 14 software out of the box with interfaces optimized specifically for its folding screen. Google promises 5 full years of operating system and security patches.

Being over a year old already, the Find N remains stuck on a customized Android 11 flavor known as ColorOS. Oppo pledges 4 years of ColorOS and security updates, but lags way behind on Android versions.

That dated OS negates advantages from Oppo‘s interface extras like faster sidebar access, floating windows, and split-screen tools. Many Android 14 foldable features just aren‘t supported.

So the Pixel Fold clearly leads for software. You‘ll stay up to date on features and security much longer versus the Find N quickly going outdated.

Availability and Pricing

The Find N‘s largest liability comes down to extremely limited availability outside of China paired with the Pixel Fold‘s ultra premium pricing in western markets:

Despite almost 1.5 years since initially launching in China, Oppo still has not released the Find N for formal sale in any western regions. This leaves prospective buyers hunting through often murky importers.

And paying to import drives up costs on the already well-priced Find N. Meanwhile, Google asks an eye-watering $1799 starting price for the 256GB Pixel Fold in comparably minuscule quantities. You are absolutely paying a first-gen tax.

But exclusivity cuts both ways here. Seeking out and importing a Find N takes considerable effort compared to easily walking into stores for Google‘s latest. There are clear trade-offs either direction you go.

And the Best Foldable Phone Is…

After closely analyzing across 8 categories, I believe the Pixel Fold stands as the best premium foldable phone you can actually buy in western markets today.

That‘s thanks to Google checking all the right boxes: excellent durable design on par with Oppo, a fantastic camera experience backed by clever AI software, the very latest and longest-supported Android software, solid battery life with wireless charging perks, and wide retail availability from carriers.

The Find N remains an incredible option too – especially for the price in China and other Asian regions. If they ever officially bring Oppo’s foldable stateside I would quickly change my recommendation.

But importing does get tricky, and again that older Android OS will go obsolete faster. So for a tightly packaged flagship foldable you can easily purchase today with the full Google software suite onboard, the $1799 Pixel Fold reigns supreme.

Hopefully widening foldable phone adoption drives prices down and spread access globally. We need more excellent options like Google and Oppo‘s to push boundaries. But in 2023 based on all factors weighed here, Pixel Fold gets my crown!

Let me know if you have any other questions.