Oppo's new Reno3 models add 5G but remove a familiar feature

What do Oppo and Xiaomi have in common besides the obvious? Both have expressed a desire to enter the U.S. market even though neither one has actually done so yet. In the case of Xiaomi, this has become a long-running joke. Oppo made its intentions known earlier this year and Alan Wu, the head of the brand's overseas operations, said that it first has to stabilize its position in Europe.

Looking at what has happened with Huawei and the fact that it is banned from accessing its U.S. supply chain, this is obviously not a great time for Chinese phone manufacturers to set up shop in the states. On the other hand, OnePlus is holding its own if not thriving in the U.S., and it happens to be owned by the same Chinese company (BBK Electronics) that owns Oppo, Realme, and Vivo.

While American consumers won't have Oppo's new handsets marketed to them just yet, it always is a good idea to check out what the company is doing. That's because the Chinese phone manufacturers are the source of much of the industry's innovation these days. So with that in mind, Oppo today unveiled two new 5G enabled phones, the Reno3 and the Reno3 Pro.

The premium handset is the Oppo Reno3 Pro, which will be powered by Qualcomm's gaming enhanced Snapdragon 765G SoC. The phone will sport a 6.5-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 (FHD+) and an aspect ratio of 20:9. The pop-up fin or wedge, which contained the front-facing selfie camera on earlier Reno models, is a thing of the past. Instead, there is a 32MP punch-hole camera found at the upper left corner of the display. The display refreshes at 90Hz offering smoother animation for game players and easier scrolling. An in-display fingerprint scanner will unlock the unit.

Two configurations of the model will be available, one with 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage and another with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage. A 48MP primary camera is on the back with an aperture of f/1.7 combined with a 13MP telephoto camera with 5x hybrid zoom, an 8MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP monochrome sensor. The handset will be equipped with a 4025mAh battery that will charge using Oppo's 30W VOOC Flash Charge 4.0. The Android 10 version of Oppo's ColorOS is pre-installed.

The Reno3 Pro will be available in Blue Starry Night, Sunrise, Moonlit Black and Misty White on December 31st for a starting price equivalent to $529 USD. A special version of the device in Classic Blue will go on sale January 10th priced at the equivalent of $600 USD.

The Oppo Reno3 comes with a 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED display and the 32MP selfie camera is contained inside a front-facing waterdrop notch. It is powered by MediaTek's 5G Dimensity 1000L SoC. The phone is available with 128GB of storage with either 8GB or 12GB of memory. On the back, the cameras include a 64MP primary with an f/1.8 aperture, an 8MP secondary camera (ultra-wide?) and both monochrome and portrait sensors. Oppo didn't skimp on the battery with the Reno3, equipping it with the same component found on the premium model (4025mAh capacity along with the 30W fast charger). And the handset comes with Oppo ColorOS 7 (Android 10) out of the box.

The Reno3 will be offered in the same three colors as the premium version (Blue Starry Night, Sunrise, Moonlit Black, Misty White) and will also launch on December 31st. Pricing will start at the equivalent of $485.