The Reno Z is OPPO's latest affordable smartphone

OPPO is expanding its Reno smartphone family with a new, more affordable variant: the Reno Z. Available in Australia from today, the Reno Z comes in at less than half the price of the Reno 5G and Reno 10x Zoom Edition.

The $499 price-tag obviously means the Reno Z isn't quite on par with its high-end siblings, but there's a surprising amount of similarity. The most important shared feature is the 48MP primary camera, which is identical to that of the Reno 5G. A different processor under the hood means imaging capabilities won't necessarily be the same, but it's a very promising start. Especially since we found the Reno 5G's camera to be excellent.

Other than more modest hardware under the hood, there are a couple of key differences. The Reno Z has a tear-drop notch instead of a pop-up selfie camera, there's no 5G model, and there's no zoom lens. However, you do get a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Other key specifications for the Reno Z include a 6.4-inch 1080p display, a MediaTek MT6779V processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 48MP + 5MP rear-facing camera configuration, an in-screen fingerprint reader, and a 4,035mAh battery.

The OPPO Reno Z is available right now through JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks, The Good Guys and MobileCiti for $499 outright. You can get in a choice of "Jet Black" and "Aurora Purple". You can also get the Reno Z on a plan from Woolworths Mobile and Vodafone.

Update (22/08/19): You can now read our OPPO Reno Z review here.

Alex Choros

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Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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