The OnePlus Open could give luxury folding phone-tablets a run for their money.
While Samsung and Google’s best foldables cost upwards of £1,700, OnePlus is known for producing flashy smartphones at competitive prices.
The Chinese brand has been teasing its first foldable for a few months now, with the device even appearing in the wild in a possible stealth publicity stunt.
OnePlus also recently confirmed that it jointly developed the phone with its sister brand, and fellow affordable phone maker, Oppo. This could be part of a cost-cutting strategy that allows Oppo to release the device in its native China, while OnePlus brings it to the West.
Here’s what we know about the foldable, including its official launch date, rumoured features, and design.
When will the OnePlus Open come out?
OnePlus has confirmed that it will unveil the OnePlus Open on Thursday, October 19 at an event in Mumbai, India.
Judging by past launches, the device should be available to pre-order immediately and go on sale in the following weeks.
OnePlus Open design and features
The OnePlus Open will be a folding phone that opens up like a book to give you a bigger, tablet-like display.
In that sense, its closest rivals are this year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 (£1,749) and Google Pixel Fold (£1,749). The upcoming foldable is rumoured to have a 7.82-inch inner display and a 6.31-inch outer one. That would make it slightly larger in both departments than Samsung’s handset.
Outside of leaked images, we got our best look at the device when it was allegedly spotted in the hands of Indian actor Anushka Sharma in late September.
A better look at OnePlus Open in the hands of Anushka Sharma — the phone is clearly visible here and the OnePlus logo too. #OnePlusOpen pic.twitter.com/XzJJTKuNnN
— Ishan Agarwal (@ishanagarwal24) September 29, 2023
An Indian actress, Anushka Sharma, is seen holding and using an unannounced foldable phone, the OnePlus Open. 👀
— Alvin (@sondesix) September 29, 2023
A marketing strategy? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/SX3L7VkCTm
Based on the clip, and other unofficial images, the OnePlus Open has a prominent circular camera bump on the back (in the vein of the OnePlus 11 5G) that houses three lenses. Meanwhile, OnePlus recently shared a teaser image of the front of the phone as part of its launch announcement.
Speaking of the phone’s durability, Oppo has said its hinge will be 37 per cent stronger — and have “31 fewer components” — than that of its previous foldable, the Find N2. The company also said the phone will contain an alert slider.
Finally, we wouldn’t be surprised if it features the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip found inside most of this year’s top Android phones.
How much will the OnePlus Open cost?
If OnePlus sticks to its guns, we’d expect its first foldable to undercut the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Pixel Fold in terms of price.
Therefore, we’d wager that the OnePlus Open could cost between £1,600-£1,700 in the UK. At that price, the phone is said to pack 256GB storage and 16GB RAM.
