OPPO is making its way to the UK with the RX17 Pro, RX17 Neo, and Find X

Xiaomi made a big splash in the U.K. late last year, when it finally brought its mobile wares to the country. Now, OPPO is bringing its rival Chinese brand to the market, starting with three phones — the OPPO RX17 Pro, RX17 Neo, and its experimental flagship, the OPPO Find X.

The BBK company confirmed the news at a launch event in London on Jan. 29. It follows previous launches in France, Italy, Spain, and other Western European regions, with OPPO seemingly looking to gain a foothold in the wider European market.

The RX17 Pro features an in-display fingerprint sensor, a triple-lens camera (which includes a 3D Time of Flight sensor), and two batteries. The latter enables OPPO’s patented SuperVOOC charging technology which is capable of providing 40 percent battery in 10 minutes. Check out our OPPO R17 review for more details.

The RX17 Neo keeps the in-display fingerprint sensor, but loses a bit of processing power. Instead of the RX17 Pro’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 SoC, the Neo switches to the Snapdragon 670. It also drops from 8GB RAM on the Pro to 4GB RAM and only features a dual-lens camera (16MP + 2MP).

Both RX17 series phones offer up 25MP selfie cameras, as well as OPPO’s much vaunted AI camera features. In addition, both phones feature “waterdrop” notches which should be familiar to U.K. buyers thanks to the OnePlus 6T from OPPO’s BBK stablemate.

The main attraction, however, is the OPPO Find X and its mechanized “periscope” camera. In a novel solution to the notch problem plaguing near bezel-less phones, OPPO hides the front camera and the sensors used for 3D face unlocking in a mechanized panel that slides out the top of the handset.

The Find X also features Qualcomm’s (currently) top-tier Snapdragon 845 SoC, 8GB of RAM a 6.42-inch AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 93.8 percent, VOOC fast-charging, and a dual-lens rear camera (16MP + 20MP).

Related: OPPO Find X specs: Is this the most stacked phone of 2018?

The OPPO RX17 Neo will go for 319 GBP, the RX17 Pro will cost 549 GBP, and the Find X will unsurprisingly cost a premium at 799 GBP. You can pre-order all three devices from the Carphone Warehouse website (links below), with the devices official going on sale February 13. 

OPPO will face tough competition in the U.K. market, including from other Chinese brands like Huawei, Honor, and Xiaomi. While OPPO’s main market share comes from more affordable devices, the U.K., like most of Europe, is dominated by big-money flagships.

The Find X should guarantee some attention in the short term at least. While Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 3, which recently hit shelves in the U.K., technically snagged the spotlight for slider phones, the Find X is the only rival with a mechanized pop-up as the vivo Nex never made it to U.K. shore.

OPPO is going beyond just a few product launches in the region too. The company confirmed a collaboration with London’s Royal College of Arts on a “product-designing project,” and reaffirmed plans to build a design center in the capital — making it the only OPPO design center outside of China.