Oppo R15 is a slick upper mid-range phone, ruined by (yes) a notch

Chinese mobile brand Oppo is one of the world’s largest smartphone makers, even if you can’t find them in South Africa and the USA. Nevertheless, the firm’s Oppo R15 is looking like a neat buy for those who can’t quite afford a flagship handset.

Starting at RMB2999 (R5698 as a straight conversion), you’re getting a brand-new Helio P60 chipset (quad-core A73 plus quad-core A53, as well as AI processing unit), 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage. Other noteworthy additions include a rear fingerprint scanner and 3450mAh battery.

Move to the front of the device and you’ll notice that it has the dreaded notch obscuring the 19:9 2280×1080 OLED display. At this point, we’d be okay with a thicker top border if the notch was gone. Thankfully, Oppo hasn’t gone full Apple and ditched the headphone jack — wired enthusiasts rejoice. But the phone still maintains a microUSB port, ostensibly for the firm’s VOOC fast charging.

In terms of the all-important camera experience, you’re looking at a 20MP selfie shooter and a 16MP+5MP (f/1.7, f/2.2) main camera setup. The dual camera setup enables portrait mode, what seems to be an Apple-inspired portrait lighting option and “AI-powered” scene recognition.

Snapdragon fans aren’t left in the lurch, as there’s a slightly more expensive (RMB3499/R6654) R15 Dream Mirror Edition. This packs a Snapdragon 660 instead of Helio P60, while also offering a 3400mAh battery and 16MP/20MP dual camera setup (both being f/1.7 aperture).

In any event, it’s unlikely that the West will see the phone, but do expect Oppo stablemate OnePlus to grab a few features for its OnePlus 6.