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OPPO unveils its newest mid-range smartphone - the A91
Thu, 23rd Apr 2020
FYI, this story is more than a year old

OPPO has today announced the launch of its latest smartphone offering, the OPPO A91, which will be appearing in online stores in New Zealand tomorrow.

The mid-range smartphone joins the Apple iPhone SE, announced last week, in the increasing pool of new smartphones hitting the market at less than NZ$1000.

The trend of cheaper smartphones seems set to continue as the world faces recession and the economic impact of COVID-19 hits consumers, who will begin to conserve disposable income.

The OPPO A91 will retail for $649 in New Zealand, and will only be available for purchase through online retailers as the country remains in lockdown.

Key features  The camera

The A91 features a quad-camera setup, including a 48MP main camera, 8MP wide-angle macro lens, mono lens and portrait mode.

Using the four-in-one pixel combination technology, this delivers ultra-high resolution and light sensitivity.

The Ultra Wide Angle Macro Lens can fit more into the frame than ever before, says OPPO.

Artificial intelligence (AI) beautification technology makes its A Series debut on the A91 and is supported on both the 16MP front camera and rear quad-cam set-up.

The camera also applies customised beautification effects based on 137 facial data points, providing a personalised beautification effect for up to four people in group photos.

In addition to the lenses, the A91 is equipped with Anti-shake Video performance, using Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) and internal gyroscope hardware.

Videos shot on the A91 under shaky conditions appear clearer, sharper and more stable, says OPPO.

The display

The company says the A91 is the first in OPPO's A Series to feature an AMOLED screen.

With a screen to body ratio of 90.7%, the display features a resolution of 2400x1080.

The phone itself is 7.9mm thick and weighs 172g, and features Gorilla Glass 5 to protect itself from those inevitable drops. 

The hardware

HyperBoost 2.0 Plus and GameBoost 2.0. HyperBoost 2.0 gives improved app opening speeds and minimises battery drain, while GameBoost 2.0 improves frame stability by 35.8% and touch control performance by 35.2%.

OPPO has added the Touch Boost feature to accelerate touch response rate, and Frame Boost is added to prevent screen freeze.

The OPPO A91 features a 4025mAh battery, employing OPPO's VOOC 3.0 flash charging, going from 0 to 10% charge in five minutes and to 35% in 20 minutes. 

The biometrics

In addition to its face ID, the OPPO A91 features light-sensing In-Display Fingerprint 3.0, unlocking the phone in just 0.32 seconds.

It also includes an optical fingerprint G3 solution, a new unlocking design with fill-in light and the latest anti-fake hardware technology.

The OPPO A91 comes Lightening Black and Blazing Blue colours.