The first signs regarding what we can expect from Oppo’s next flagship phone series for 2022 have started to emerge – including the surprising news that it may not be called the Find X4 after all.

Three phones are rumoured, including the latest premium Snapdragon and Dimensity mobile chipsets, faster charging, and a camera system led by Oppo’s freshly-announced dedicated NPU – the MariSilicon X. Here’s all we know so far about the Oppo Find X4 (or perhaps Find X5) series.

When will the Oppo Find X5 be released?

While there’s no official release date as such, at Qualcomm’s December 2021 Snapdragon Summit Oppo confirmed that its next flagship device will launch in the first quarter of 2022.

Our next flagship + @Snapdragon‘s next Mobile Platform 👇

Your smartphone experience, elevated 💪

Are you ready? #SnapdragonSummit

— OPPO (@oppo) December 1, 2021

Considering the last two generations of Find X flagships arrived in March, it stands to reason that Oppo won’t change tack, leading us to assume we’ll see the Find X4 series make its debut on March 2022.

It might be earlier though. Leaker Digital Chat Station has predicted that the phones will instead launch “in the second half of February.” That may well mean that the handsets will debut at Mobile World Congress, the Barcelona-based tradeshow that kicks off in the last week of February.

In previous years we’ve seen the Find X range include regular, Pro, Lite, and Neo models. Digital Chat Station has also predicted we’ll see three phones when the series debuts this time around, and so far it looks like it’s the Neo that may not make it – or perhaps will just launch later in the year.

Will it be called the Find X4 or Find X5?

In the same post where he predicted three models, Digital Chat Station also did something unexpected: he used the name ‘Find X5’.

It now looks like Oppo may be planning to skip X4 and go straight to X5. This isn’t entirely unheard of – 4 is an unlucky number in Chinese culture, similar to 13 in the West, and it’s not uncommon for brands to skip straight past it in their phone numbering.

For now it’s still uncertain which name Oppo intends to use, but with more and more leaks referring to the Find X5, that’s looking more likely.

How much will the Oppo Find X5 cost?

We don’t have any details on the cost of the Oppo Find X4 phones at the time of writing, so we need to look to the previous entries to give us a clue. Here’s how the last couple of generations of the Pro model have lined up:

As you can see, these are flagship devices and as such come with flagship prices. They’re still cheaper than the closest rivals – such as the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which will set you back £1,149/€1,249/US$1,299.99, but it’s a fair wedge of cash you’ll have to hand over for a premium handset.

If Oppo holds to the pricing of previous models, then obviously you’ll have to save up if you want to buy one. There is a possibility of a slight increase though, with the global chip shortage and pandemic-related supply chain restraints seeing a creep in costs that are being handed on to the consumer.

What about the Oppo Find X5 series specs and design?

Since we’re expecting three phones in the Find X5 series, we’re going to break them down one by one, starting with the top spec model.

Find X5 Pro specs

Oppo surprised us all with the outlandish design of the Find X3 Pro, and if our first renders are anything to go by then the company is about to do it again.

Prolific leaker OnLeaks released a few renders together with Indian site Prepp of what they claim is the upcoming Pro model in the line-up, “based on early prototype schematics.”

Other leaks point to the phone being 8.2mm thick, and weighing 195g.

The curved camera module of the X3 Pro returns, but now with an even stranger irregular design. We can’t say we’re fans, but then we didn’t love the Find X3 Pro camera when it first leaked and it eventually won us over.

We can see a triple rear camera with what appear to be two main lenses and a third smaller shooter – so one lens fewer than the Find X3 Pro.

If you’re not convinced the design is legit, it’s popped up since in multiple photos shared on Weibo (two here, the third documented by GSMArena) of what are allegedly real X5 Pro handsets.

Along with revealing official finishes – including a return of the silver reflective tone used on the Find X3 Pro – this includes a few more key details.

First up, the bottom of the phone features the Hasselblad logo. This is a camera company that’s already partnered with Oppo subsidiary OnePlus – it helped with the cameras on the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro, and is also contributing to the 10 Pro. In that sense it’s no huge shock to see it partner with Oppo too, though it is a first.

We can also see MariSilicon branding on the camera module. This refers to Oppo’s own MariSilicon X NPU – the company’s first in-house chip designed to assist with advanced image processing and confirmed to be featured in the Find X series.

Rather than relying on the Snapdragon and Dimensity chips’ integrated ISPs, Oppo has built its 6nm standalone neural imaging chipset to focus on the particular areas it wants to enhance in its flagship camera experience. The MariSilicon X promises greatly improved dynamic range (that’s reportedly four times broader than what the Find X3 Pro’s cameras are capable of capturing), along with the ability to run the X3 Pro’s AI noise reduction algorithm 20 times faster than the X3 Pro itself currently can.

As for the other internals, Oppo has now confirmed that the Find X4/X5 series will use both the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and the MediaTek Dimensity 9000. It’s most likely that the regular Find X4 will be powered by the Dimensity, with the Snapdragon found in the Find X5 Pro.

Both chips are built on a 4nm process and actually feature fairly similar specs, so don’t expect a huge performance gulf between the two handsets.

A near-full spec leak from Digital Chat Station does indeed point to the 8 Gen 1 appearing in the Find X5 Pro. He also expects a 6.7in, 2K AMOLED display using LTPO 2.0 tech for variable refresh rate up to 120Hz, which matches previous leaks.

On battery, he nods to a 5000mAh cell with 80W wired charging and 50W wireless. That 80W speed has since been verified by the phone’s 3C certification.

Then there’s the camera. As we pointed out earlier, there are only three lenses here – down from the four on the Find X3 Pro. Multiple leaks point to a more traditional camera setup, with a main lens, ultrawide, and telephoto – no sign of last year’s great but gimmicky microscope lens.

The main lens should use a 50Mp IMX766 sensor with optical image stabilisation. Leaks disagree on whether the ultra-wide will use the same sensor again (as Oppo did last year) or instead use a 32Mp IMX709. Finally, there’ll be a 13Mp sensor appearing in the telephoto, perhaps the Samsung S5K3M5.

On the front, there’ll be a 32Mp selfie camera using the IMX709 sensor.

Find X5 specs

There haven’t been few leaks devoted specifically to the Find X5, which is expected to be largely similar to the Pro model.

Most leakers predict that the phone will feature essentially the same design and build as the Pro variant, so expect it to look and feel about the same.

As mentioned above, it’s likely to use the Dimensity 9000 chipset instead of the new Snapdragon, but will feature the same 80W wired and 50W wireless charging speeds.

The camera is also expected to be similar, if not the same, with three lenses, most likely in a 50Mp + 50Mp + 13Mp configuration.

Find X5 Lite specs

Perversely, the Lite may be the model we know the most about – because a certification listing suggests that it will be a re-branded release of the Oppo Reno 7 5G. This wouldn’t be unusual for Oppo, which re-brands phones for different markets often.

If that’s true, it means you should expect a Snapdragon 778G, a 6.43in 90Hz AMOLED display, and 60W charging for a 4500mAh battery. The camera should have three rear lenses, with a 64Mp main camera backed up by an 8Mp ultrawide and 2Mp macro.

Here are the full Reno 7 specs, and thus what we expect to be the X5 Lite specs:

• 6.43in, 90Hz, FHD+ AMOLED display
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G
• 8/12GB RAM
• 128/256GB storage
• Rear camera:
  • 64Mp, f/1.7 main camera
  • 8Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide camera
  • 2Mp, f/2.4 macro camera
• 32Mp, f/2.4 front camera
• 4500mAh battery
• 60W wired charging
• 5G
• 156.8 x 72.1 x 7.6mm
• 185g

In the meantime, take a look at our roundup of the best smartphones to see other worthwhile flagships competing for your money.