Smartphone technology is evolving at a breakneck pace, at least on the Android side. Foldable smartphones have been around for several years, but Samsung is the face of it in India, although brands like Motorola, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi have also experimented with this category. It’s only in the last couple of years that we’ve started to see some of the Chinese clamshell foldables being launched in India. This is mainly because Samsung has been the only smartphone brand to bring every foldable model announced globally to India.
Another smartphone brand that has been entering the premium segment for some time now is OnePlus. The Chinese smartphone maker has proven time and again that it can deliver immense value with its products, but has always avoided the ultra-premium smartphone segment (starting at Rs. 80,000). So what happens when a brand as competitive as OnePlus offers a foldable? I’ve been using the OnePlus Open for over a week and here’s why I think it’s a strong rival to Samsung in this segment in India.
The OnePlus Open is quite thin and light
The OnePlus Open certainly looks great and makes a good first impression when you hold it. I received the Voyager Black version with a textured leatherette back and a slate gray matte finish frame that instantly reminded me of high-end, retro-looking compact cameras. The large, cookie-sized camera protrusion on the back (which is almost as thick as the phone when unfolded) is a fitting indicator that OnePlus is serious about this foldable’s cameras. And if that’s not enough, there’s a Hasselblad “H” logo on the raised camera module to reaffirm its seriousness.
The overall design is quite modern and minimalist even if this version (with the leather back) has a retro touch. The bezel around the outer screen is quite thin and the same can be said for the inner foldable screen. Both displays feature built-in punch-hole selfie cameras that are visible, not hidden like on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5.
Protruding camera bump adds a few millimeters to the rear panel
It is also quite thin and light. When folded, the OnePlus Open is 11.9mm thick (excluding the camera bump) and when unfolded, it’s quite thin at just 5.9mm. Both of these measurements are downright impressive for a full-size foldable. It’s also quite light with the Voyager Black version weighing just 239g. Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max, much lighter this year and much simpler in terms of engineering, weighs 221g. In the foldable department, Samsung’s recently launched Galaxy Z Fold 5 weighs over a quarter of a kilo (253g) and felt much heavier and chubbier when I used it. Indeed, it seems that OnePlus is setting new standards and raising the bar when it comes to foldable smartphone design.
The third speaker is essentially the receiver speaker located on the left half of the foldable.
There are three speakers on the phone, which seems like an odd choice, but OnePlus claims it delivers better sound with them. The fingerprint reader is inside the power button, along with the iconic Alert Slider switch, available on OnePlus’ high-end smartphones. They seem to have lowered this foldable’s rating to an IPX4, but it’s not really a “OnePlus smartphone” if there’s no alert slider.
OnePlus seems to have gone to great lengths to match its two displays in terms of colors and capabilities, so that users have the same experience when using either one. There is a 6.31-inch 2K exterior display, 20:9 aspect ratio, with a 120Hz refresh rate. This translates to a main foldable 2K display with almost 1:1 aspect ratio that measures 7.82 inches in diameter and also offers a refresh rate of 120 Hz. Both AMOLED displays feature OnePlus’ ProXDR technology as well as LTPO 3.0 and offer a touch sampling rate of 240 Hz.
The exterior screen seems large enough for comfortable regular use
The phone packs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, which is also available on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 (Review). However, there is 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM (with up to 12GB of RAM expansion) and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. While all of this is what you’d expect from a high-end, high-end foldable, it’s worth remembering that we’re only days away from announcing the next generation of this SoC, which is expected to be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and it will. have a different architecture and better efficiency as well. Regardless, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is no slouch, as we saw on the OnePlus 11 5G in our test.
As the design of this foldable shows, it’s focused on the camera experience, which is unlike any other globally announced foldable we’ve seen in the past. The main camera is an interesting Sony LYT-T808 sensor with a resolution of 48 megapixels (with OIS) and promises to bring more light thanks to its newer technology. The dual-layer transistor pixel technology (or stacked pixel) sensor allows it to be compact enough to fit in the slim body, but OnePlus also claims it offers equally impressive performance, which I’ll test in the full review .
The OnePlus Open is well equipped in the camera department
The second camera is also equally impressive on paper with an OmniVision IV64B with a 3X optical zoom range, with OnePlus claiming up to 6X lossless zoom and a maximum range of up to 120X. Like the main camera, this one also contains OIS. Finally, there is the ultra-wide camera with a Sony IMX581 sensor with a resolution of 48 megapixels and a field of view of 114 degrees. Since it has autofocus, you also have solid macro capability, given its larger-than-usual resolution. There are two selfie cameras, both fixed-focus and offering 20-megapixel and 32-megapixel resolution.
The device is powered by a 4,805mAh dual-cell battery that can be charged at 67W. Charging is wired only. And the omission of wireless charging is likely what resulted in such a slim design. As for software, there is OxygenOS 13.2, which is a bit strange because I kind of expected it to run Android 14 out of the box.
The main foldable screen has an almost square 1:1 aspect ratio.
The Android 14-based software would be available at a later date. OnePlus has a few tricks up its sleeve with OxygenOS, as well as a cool Recents folder in the taskbar that lets you copy and paste items around and between apps like a desktop. There is also a feature called Open Canvas that allows running multiple apps at once, but we’ll talk more about that in the review.
OnePlus is new to the foldable business even though this product was developed with the help of Oppo. This helps OnePlus get off to a good start when competing with a brand like Samsung in a very niche but rapidly growing market segment. So far, everything looks impressive. OnePlus managed to make its foldable thinner and lighter, and it even packs an impressive set of cameras on paper, but it took some shortcuts to get there. There’s no wireless charging (for a high-end smartphone), no stylus support, and it’s powered by what will soon be, but not the latest processor in just a few months.
OnePlus has ensured that its foldable is clearly a OnePlus device, but will these missing features impact its performance and rank it lower compared to the existing competition? You also need to keep in mind the positioning of the brand. OnePlus, until now, has never sold an ultra-premium device in India and the global market. Find out all this and more in our detailed review, coming soon.
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