Chinese smartphone maker Oppo is introducing its new foldable phone to Japan for the first time, the company said on April 14, as part of an effort to break into a market led by Apple’s iPhone.
The Oppo Find N6 has a suggested retail price of JPY 318,000 (USD 1,999.1) for the 512-gigabyte model, making it Oppo’s most expensive phone yet.
The price is higher than that of rival Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Z Fold7, which sells for JPY 295,750 (USD 1,859.3) for the same storage capacity.
The Oppo device features a proprietary hinge that keeps the height of the display crease when the phone is unfolded to just 0.05 millimeters.
Foldable smartphones sales in Japan totaled 225,000 units in fiscal 2023, less than 1% of the overall smartphone market, according to MM Research Institute. Apple is working on a foldable iPhone but has hit setbacks.
Chinese brands have struggled to gain a foothold in Japan’s smartphone market, where Apple holds a share of over 50%. Worldwide, Xiaomi ranked third with a 13.1% market share last year, and Oppo came in fifth with 8.1%, according to US-based IDC. Neither company ranks among the top five in Japan.
Apple has locked in users with its iOS operating system, making them less likely to buy phones from other makers. Despite these challenges, Oppo entered the Japanese market in December 2024 with its first premium model in about three years, the Oppo Find X8.
The brand has found some success. The Oppo Find X9, launched in December last year at JPY 149,800 (USD 941.7), had by February sold four times as many units as the X8.
“This is a single device that packs everything Oppo has learned over eight years of foldable smartphone research,” Oppo Japan’s Kenzo Kono said about the new N6.
Foldable phones have been only a small segment of the Japanese market, but perceptions are changing, industry watchers say. Foldables’ large displays open new possibilities for applications.
“More consumers are now coming in specifically asking for foldable phones,” a representative of electronics retailer Bic Camera said. “They are increasingly being chosen by businesspeople for professional use.”
With horizontally folding phones, such as Oppo’s N6 and Samsung’s Fold7, there are limited benefits to viewing videos because large margins remain at the top and bottom of the screen. But there is significant potential for business use, such as working with document files or running multiple chat and productivity apps simultaneously.
The nearly crease-free flat open display also works well with a stylus, enabling users to write directly on documents.
In South Korea, a stronghold for Samsung, large screen phones are becoming popular with businesspeople in their 40s and 50s who are beginning to experience declining eyesight. Although foldable devices are expensive, there is also likely demand to be found among middle-aged and older users in Japan.
This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.
Note: JPY figures are converted to USD at rates of JPY 159.07 = USD 1 based on estimates as of April 20, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.