Smartphone technology is advancing at an astonishing pace, at least when it comes to Android. Foldable smartphones have been around for years, but Samsung has been the leader in the segment in India, although brands like Motorola, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi have also been experimenting with the category. It was only in the past two years that we started seeing some Chinese clamshell foldable devices launched in India. This is mainly because Samsung is the only smartphone brand to bring every foldable model it launches globally to India.
Another smartphone brand that has been making headway in the premium segment for some time is OnePlus. The Chinese smartphone maker has time and again proven that its products offer great value but has always shied away from the ultra-premium (starting at Rs 80,000) smartphone segment. So what happens when a competitive brand like OnePlus launches a foldable phone? I have been using the OnePlus Open for over a week now, which is why I consider it a serious competitor to Samsung in this segment in India.
OnePlus Open is very thin and light
The OnePlus Open does look great and makes a great first impression when you hold it. The one I received was the Voyager Black version, which immediately reminds me of retro premium compact cameras with its faux leather textured back and slate gray matte frame. The huge cookie-sized camera protrusion on the back (which is almost as thick as the phone when unfolded) is a strong indication that OnePlus is serious about the cameras on this foldable phone. If that’s not enough, the raised camera module also sports the Hasselblad “H” logo to reiterate its seriousness.
The overall design is quite modern and minimalist, although this version (with a leather back) has a bit of a retro feel to it. The bezels around the outer display are very thin, as is the inner folding display. Both displays have punch-hole selfie cameras embedded in them, which are visible rather than hidden from view like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.
Protruding camera bump adds a few millimeters to the rear panel
It’s also very thin and light. When folded, the OnePlus Open is 11.9mm thick (excluding the camera bump), and when unfolded it is only 5.9mm, which is very thin. Both dimensions are impressive for a full-size foldable device. The Voyager Black version is also lightweight at 239 grams. Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max is much lighter and simpler in engineering terms this year, weighing in at 221 grams. In the world of foldable devices, Samsung’s recently launched Galaxy Z Fold 5 weighs more than a quarter of a kilogram (253 grams) and felt heavier and fatter when I used it. In fact, OnePlus seems to be setting some new standards and raising the bar for foldable smartphone design.
The third speaker is basically the receiver speaker located on the left half of the foldable device
There are three speakers on the phone, which may seem like an odd choice, but OnePlus claims it delivers better sound. The fingerprint reader is located inside the power button, along with the signature alert slider switch that’s already used on OnePlus’ higher-end smartphones. It appears to have downgraded the foldable phone to IPX4, but without an alert slider, it wouldn’t be a true “OnePlus smartphone.”
OnePlus seems to have gone to great lengths to match its two monitors in terms of color and features so that users get the same experience when using either one. There is a 6.31-inch 2K, 20:9 aspect ratio external display with a 120Hz refresh rate. This gives the main folding 2K display an aspect ratio of almost 1:1, its width is 7.82 inches, and it also offers a 120Hz update rate. Both AMOLED displays feature OnePlus’ ProXDR technology and LTPO 3.0, and offer a 240Hz touch sampling rate.
The external monitor looks wide enough for normal use comfortably
The phone is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, which is also found in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 (review). However, there is a massive 16GB LPDDR5X RAM (expandable up to 12GB RAM) and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage. While all of this is what to expect from a high-end premium foldable device, you have to remember that we are just days away from the launch of the next-generation SoC, which should be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which will feature a different architecture and more High efficiency. Regardless, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is no slouch, as we saw on the OnePlus 11 5G in our review.
What’s evident in the design of this foldable phone is that it’s focused on the camera experience, unlike any other globally announced foldable phone we’ve seen in the past. The main camera is an interesting Sony LYT-T808 sensor with a 48-megapixel resolution (with OIS) and promises to bring in more light thanks to its new technology. The dual-layer transistor pixel technology (or pixel stacking) sensor makes it compact enough to fit into a slim body, but OnePlus also claims it offers equally impressive performance, which I’ll get into in the full review its for testing.
OnePlus Open is well-equipped camera-wise
The second camera is equally impressive on paper, being the OmniVision IV64B with 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 camera also comes with OIS. Finally, there is an ultra-wide-angle lens equipped with Sony IMX581 sensor, with a resolution of 48 million pixels and a field of view of 114 degrees. Since it has autofocus, you finally get solid macro capabilities as well, since the resolution is greater than usual. There are two selfie cameras, both of which are fixed-focus cameras with resolutions of 20 million pixels and 32 million pixels respectively.
The device is powered by a 4,805mAh dual battery with 67W charging power. Wired charging only. The omission of wireless charging may be responsible for such a slim design. As for software, there’s OxygenOS 13.2, which is a bit strange since I kind of expected it to run Android 14 out of the box.
The main folding display has an almost square 1:1 aspect ratio
According to reports, Android 14-based software will be launched later. OnePlus has some tricks up its sleeve with OxygenOS, like a cool “Recents folder” in the taskbar that lets you copy and paste content between apps like the desktop. There’s also a feature called “Open Canvas” that lets one run multiple apps at once, but more on that in the review.
OnePlus is new to the foldable device space, although the product was put together with help from Oppo. This helps OnePlus get off to a good start as it competes with brands like Samsung in a very niche but fast-growing segment. So far everything looks really impressive. OnePlus has managed to make its foldables thinner, lighter and even feature an impressive set of cameras on paper, but it’s struggled a bit to get there. It doesn’t have wireless charging (for a high-end smartphone), it doesn’t have stylus support, and it’s powered by a processor that won’t be the latest in just a few months.
OnePlus has ensured that its foldable device is clearly a OnePlus device, but will these missing features impact its performance and place it lower among existing competitors? You also need to keep the brand’s positioning in mind. OnePlus has never sold an ultra-premium device in India and global markets so far. Learn all this and more in our detailed review coming soon.
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