OnePlus Open: Foldable Phone’s Revamped Design and Features Revealed

OnePlus has provided an official preview of an early version of the OnePlus Open in an exclusive interview, showcasing the company’s redesigned foldable hinge and “seamless” design. The OnePlus Open will be the first foldable phone released under the OnePlus brand, although the company has previous foldable experience through its Oppo lineup, particularly with the Oppo Find N and N2, but has not used its flagship branding for foldable.

Exclusive Details about the OnePlus Open

During the interview with Unbox Therapy, an early model of the OnePlus Open was presented, with careful placement of paper to conceal the camera and other physical details that might reveal sensitive information. Pete Lau discussed the upcoming device and its features.

Pete mentioned that OnePlus holds over 600 patents related to the hinge alone, which is one of the major challenges in creating foldable phones. The OnePlus Open will feature a seamless design, similar to the Oppo Find N2, with 31 fewer components in comparison.

In the video, Pete demonstrated closing the OnePlus Open with a piece of paper inserted. He attributed this capability to the seamless design, which appears to involve strong magnets placed along the outer edges of the inner display.

The video provides several angles of the early OnePlus Open build, both when closed and open. While the build appears sleek, it is clearly unfinished. The seamless design is evident, but the inner screen bezels appear relatively thick and raised higher than those of other foldable devices. It remains to be seen if this design will be retained in the final product.

As the device has already been seen in the hands of the public without paper coverings, the OnePlus Open is expected to be officially announced on October 19, just two weeks after Google’s hardware event on October 4. High-end specifications, such as a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and an impressive camera setup, are anticipated for OnePlus’s debut foldable phone.