Weekly poll: the OnePlus Open is here, who is buying one?

22 October 2023

Foldables may be picking up speed, but it’s the flip variety that is the most common. Horizontal foldables, meanwhile, are either quite common or there’s just one or two, depending on where you are in the world.

OnePlus is a global brand, which makes the launch of its first foldable a big deal for fans of the form factor. Let’s have a quick overview of the OnePlus Open and the potential competition it faces.

The phone has a 7.82” main display, an LTPO 3.0 AMOLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate. It boasts 2,440 x 2,268px resolution and 10-bit colors, plus a peak brightness of up to 2,800 nits.

The cover display is impressive too, a 6.31” panel, also a 120Hz LTPO 3.0 AMOLED with 10-bit colors and 2,800 nits peak brightness. This one is protected by the new Ceramic Guard glass. The phone folds down to just 11.7mm thick (11.9mm for the Voyager Black version) and is 5.8mm (5.9mm) when open. It weighs 245g in the Emerald Dusk colorway. The Voyager Black, which is lighter at 239g despite being slightly thicker, will not be available in Europe.

OnePlus promises class-leading camera performance with its Hasselblad-branded trio. The main camera has a 48MP Sony Lytia T808, a 1/1.43” sensor that promises to match the 1” IMX989 in image quality. Then there’s the OmniVision OV64B 64MP sensor for the 3x telephoto camera, which supports 6x in-sensor zoom. Finally, there is a 48MP ultra wide camera (IMX581).

The OnePlus Open is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage, plus a 4,805mAh battery with 67W wired-only charging.

The OnePlus Open (with 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage) will cost €1,800 in Europe and £1,600 in the UK, while the US price is set at $1,700 (that is if you miss the $200 bonus). Fans in India are looking at a ₹140,000 price tag.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 is narrower at 67.1mm folded (vs. 73.3mm), but that is with a slender 23.1:9 cover display, whereas the Open has a typical 20:9 display outside. Neither the 6.2” cover nor the 7.6” main displays are LTPO panels. This one has a 50MP main camera, but only a 10MP 3x tele and 12MP ultra wide.

And the battery is smaller and slower at 4,400mAh and 25W wired charging, though it does have 15W wireless charging. The phone measures 13.4mm when folded. There’s also DeX and S Pen support to consider, OnePlus has no alternatives. The Z Fold 5 is $1,800/€1,900/£1,750 for a 12/256GB unit.

The Google Pixel Fold has a squat 5.8” cover display (17.4:9), so the phone is an uncomfortable 79.5mm wide when folded and measures 12.1mm thick. Inside is a 7.6” display (neither is LTPO). This one uses Google’s Tensor G2 chip, so it misses out the G3 upgrade that bar Pixels got recently. The 48MP main camera is paired with a 10.8MP 5x periscope and a 10.8MP ultra wide. There is a fairly large 4,821mAh battery with both wired and wireless charging (neither of them fast).

The Pixel Fold isn’t widely available, but where you can get it, you’re looking at a $1,800/€1,900/£1,750 for a 12/256GB unit.

The Honor Magic Vs2 is larger with a 6.43” cover display (19.8:9) and 7.92” main display – both LTPO. There is a 50MP main camera, 20MP 2.5x tele and 12MP ultra wide on board. The chipset is older, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, but the battery is larger with 5,000mAh capacity (66W wired-only charging), despite being the thinnest phone here at 10.7mm when folded. There’s no word on a European release for the Magic Vs2 or the previous V2, so we don’t know how much they will cost.

Then there are the Xiaomi Mix Fold 3, vivo X Fold2 and Huawei Mate X5, but the chances of these getting a global release a slim. The same goes for the oddball Honor V Purse.

The Tecno Phantom V Fold may not be available worldwide, but it is available in India at ₹78,500 (was ₹90,000 at launch) for a 12/256GB phone. This one also has dual LTPO displays – 6.42” outside (21.25:9) and 7.85” inside. It packs a Dimensity 9000+ chipset and a 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired-only charging. The camera setup includes a 50MP main (1/1.3”), 50MP 2x portrait camera and a 13MP ultra wide.

Could the OnePlus Open be your next phone? We will have a detailed review out soon to help you make up your mind.