MKBHD Says We've Reached Peak Foldable — Here's What That Means for Apple

A Phone That Stopped Making Excuses

Here's what the Oppo Find N6 actually is, on paper: Closed, it's 6.6 inches with a normal aspect ratio. No weird proportions, no awkward narrow cover screen. It's the same size as a regular flagship — 9mm thin, 230 grams — which happens to match the iPhone 17 Pro Max dimension for dimension. [1] You'd carry this phone for a week before realizing it folds. Open, you get an 8.1-inch display with 1-to-120Hz LTPO, 3600 nit peak brightness, and no perceptible crease. Battery? 6,000mAh silicon-carbon, which beats most slab phones outright. That's with 80W wired charging and 50W wireless. The silicon-carbon chemistry is the same reason a phone split in half can still outlast most of the competition. Camera? The ISO HP5 sensor — the same 200MP unit in the Samsung S25 Edge — plus a 50MP ultrawide and 50MP 3x telephoto. The Z-axis limitation of foldable form factors is real, but Oppo used sensors specifically engineered for thin-body phones to close the gap. [1] Chip: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (a custom bend variant with one fewer core). For all practical purposes, this is a flagship processor. There's also pen support with 4,000+ levels of pressure sensitivity, a Bluetooth stylus that charges wirelessly off the phone's battery, and IP59 water resistance. IP59. On a foldable. The word "compromise" has officially left the conversation.

Why "Peak Foldable" Matters Beyond One Phone

"Peak foldable" isn't just a compliment. It's a category signal. When MKBHD uses that phrase, he's saying the technology has matured — that we've crossed the line from "promising but compromised" to "actually better than the alternative in meaningful ways." This is the point where a product category becomes ready for mass adoption. And here's the part that tech insiders are paying attention to: Apple's iPhone Fold is reportedly coming later this year. This is exactly the Apple playbook MKBHD describes in his review. [1] Apple watched Samsung build the foldable category for years. They watched every other manufacturer iterate. They let the industry eat the early-adopter pain — the terrible creases, the terrible cameras, the terrible durability — and now they're preparing to jump in when the tech is actually mature. They did the same thing with the original iPhone (entered the already-existing smartphone market). With HomePod (smart speakers already existed). With Vision Pro (VR was years old by then). Apple doesn't pioneer categories. They wait until they can do it right, then come in and reframe the conversation.

The Apple Question

The question everyone's asking: what does the Apple version of a foldable actually look like? The rumors point to a different form factor than what's become the standard. Where most 2026 book-style foldables — including the N6 — aim for a regular slab phone aspect ratio when closed (then unfold into a square), the iPhone Fold is reportedly going smaller. A passport-style 5.5-inch cover screen that opens into a nearly 8-inch display — more like a portable iPad mini than a square canvas. [1] Interesting bet. Risky, too. The square format has become the standard precisely because it's the most practical. Apple is betting they can differentiate through form factor rather than specs, which tracks with how they approach every new category. Whether that pays off, we'll find out later this year.

What the Android Side Just Achieved

To be clear about the stakes here: the Oppo Find N6 is not available in most Western markets. OPPO doesn't have a major US presence. But what it represents is available everywhere, because the technology — the hinge engineering, the silicon-carbon batteries, the crease-elimination techniques — will filter into every manufacturer's next generation. Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold series, the most widely distributed book-style foldable, will be under immense pressure to match what OPPO just demonstrated. [2] The benchmark has moved. If your foldable still has a crease you can feel, it's already behind. And Apple, building the iPhone Fold right now in Cupertino, knows exactly what they're up against. The Oppo Find N6 isn't the competition. It's the standard they have to beat. That's peak foldable. That's what MKBHD just told 19 million subscribers on YouTube. And seven years in, it's genuinely exciting.