OPPO A96 Unboxing and First Impressions

Let's take a quick look at OPPO A96 with a 6nm Snapdragon chip, 5,000mAh battery, and 33W SUPERVOOC fast charging.

OPPO A96 in Black

To recap, the freshly-released smartphone features a 6.56-inch HD+ IPS LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate support.

Under the hood, the device has a Snapdragon 680 processor paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of memory. It also packs a 5,000mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging.

The mid-ranger sports a dual-camera setup on the back with a 50MP main camera and a 2MP depth sensor. For selfies, it is equipped with a 16MP selfie shooter.

It runs Android 11-based ColorOS 11.1 out of the box. The A96 starts at PHP 15,999.

Let's dive in.

Unboxing/Accessories

OPPO A96 box

The phone is packaged in the unique OPPO powder blue box. Printed around the box are the OPPO branding, specs, features and regulatory information.

Box inclusions

Inside the box are the phone, a 33W power brick, USB-A to USB-C charging cable, silicone case, SIM ejector tool, and documentation. On the screen of the phone is the preinstalled screen protector.

There are no included earphones in the box even though the phone has a 3.5mm audio jack.

Build Quality/Design

Back panel

The phone is made of a combination of polycarbonate and glasstic. The glasstic back has a frosted glass-like texture. This makes it highly resistant to fingerprint smudges while reducing the slippery nature of a smooth surface. We 

Because of the materials used, the phone is surprisingly lightweight for its size. The curved back panel and curving polycarbonate frame make the phone easy to hold too.

We still suggest wearing the included case to be safe.

Front panel

In front is the LCD (LTPS) display with a  PC + PMMA board cover glasses on top. Around it is thin top and side bezels but with a thicker chin bezel.

On the top, left corner is the punch-hole that houses the front-facing camera. 

While the aforementioned display is a 90Hz LTPS panel with a 2412 x 1080 resolution and with a 180Hz touch sampling rate.

Top and bottom

On top is a single microphone port while at the bottom is the 3.5mm audio jack, microphone port, USB-C port, and a speaker grill.

Left and right

While on the left is the SIM tray and the volume buttons.

SIM tray

The SIM tray can carry up to two nanoSIM cards and a microSD card. There is no rubber gasket.

On the right is the power button that doubles as the fingerprint scanner.

The device measures 164.4 x 75.7 x 8.4 mm and weighs 191 grams.

Rear cameras

At the back of the phone are the 50MP f/1.8 main camera and 2MP f/2.4 depth camera with an LED flash while on the punch hole in the front is the 16MP f/2.0.

Stay tuned for the camera samples that will be coming in our full review.

OPPO A96 Specs

Display: 6.59-inch 2.5D curved LCD (LTPS) screen w/ 90Hz refresh rate, FHD+ 2412 x 1080 resolution at 401 ppi

CPU: 2.4GHz 6nm Snapdragon 680 octa-core processor

GPU: Adreno 610

RAM: 8GB LPDDR4X

ROM: 256GB UFS 2.2 expandable via microSD card slot up to 1TB

Back Camera: 50MP f/1.8 w/ PDAF  + 2MP f/2.4 + LED flash

Selfie Camera: 16MP f/2.0

Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 33W SUPERVOOC

OS: Android 11 w/ ColorOS 11.1

Connectivity: WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0 (SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC), OTG, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, dual SIM

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic

Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, face unlock, USB-C, dual mic, Colors: Starry Black, Pearl Pink

Dimensions: 164.4 x 75.7 x 8.4 mm

Weight: 191 g

Price: PHP 15,999

As of the moment

Web surfing

The OPPO A96 is in an interesting position.

It has comparable specs, build, and design with phones that are priced noticeably lower than the A96's PHP 15,999. In fact, this is one of the few situations where we find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 at this price.

The bright spot we can see so far is it has a massive 256GB expandable internal storage which is a rarity for the price.

However, the competition in the mid-range segment is fierce and most of them are already 5G-ready. Honestly, on paper, the OPPO A96 may struggle. 

But of course, we will test the phone properly if the phone's performance can demand the price.

Stay tuned for the full review coming out soon.

What do you guys think?