OnePlus has confirmed that is working on a foldable to be released this year, but what should you expect?
While the company has confirmed its existence and teased that it’ll be a foldable without compromise, there are still a lot of questions about the OnePlus foldable. Will it be a book-style foldable like the Honor Magic Vs or opt for the clamshell-style fold like the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra? How much will it cost? And when exactly will it be released?
Here, we break down all the latest news and rumours about the upcoming OnePlus foldable, from release date rumours to pricing speculation as well as the latest leaks and unofficial renders.
When will the OnePlus foldable be released?
We know that the OnePlus foldable will make its debut in 2023 because the company’s President and COO, Kinder Liu, confirmed as much at MWC 2023. Per Liu, the foldable is set to be released “in the coming months”, though no specific date – or even month – was mentioned. He did tease that the “first foldable phone will have the signature OnePlus fast and smooth experience” though.
However, a previous teaser might be able to shed more light on OnePlus’ foldable release plans.
During the global launch of the OnePlus 11 back in February 2023, the company teased that “something phenomenal” is on the way, with a graphic showcasing what looks to be a foldable silhouette with the graphic “Coming in Q3”. That runs from July to September.
Interestingly, OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus 11 will be the only flagship this year, leading some to speculate that the OnePlus foldable could take the place of the regular T-series in August.
However, an Android Central source claims that OnePlus will release two foldables in 2023, with a high-end foldable dubbed the Fold “gearing up for launch”, while the second foldable will allegedly make its debut close to the end of 2023. That’s worth taking with the usual pinch of salt, of course, but it’s certainly interesting.
How much will the OnePlus foldable cost?
At this stage, it’s too early to say just how much OnePlus’ foldable smartphone will cost. It’s probably safe to assume that it’ll undercut the foldable flagship competition, much like the OnePlus 11 does – though by how much is anybody’s guess. It’ll still likely be a premium product that’ll cost more than the £799 flagship.
Whispers suggest that the OnePlus foldable will be heavily based on the Oppo Find N series, which makes sense given Chinese giant BBK owns both Oppo and OnePlus, and the two brands have become increasingly similar over the past few years. You need only look at the OnePlus 10 Pro and the Oppo Find X5 Pro to see what we mean.
This leads us to believe it’ll either be based on the book-style Oppo Find N2 or the clamshell-style Oppo Find N2 Flip.
With the Oppo Find N2 Flip retailing in the UK for a tempting £849, and the Oppo Find N2 costing more in China at 7,99 (around £930), it’s possible that the OnePlus foldable could cost a similar amount when it’s released.
Will the OnePlus release a clamshell or book-style foldable?
While OnePlus has confirmed that a foldable is on the way, it hasn’t stated whether it’ll sport a book-style fold like the Galaxy Z Fold 4, or a clamshell fold like the Galaxy Z Flip 4.
Interestingly, OnePlus has trademarked names for both form factors in China – OnePlus V Fold and OnePlus V Flip – suggesting that the company could be considering both.
That also aligns with comments from an Android Central source that claims two foldables are on the way in 2023.
However, the fact that Oppo has released the Oppo Find N2 Flip in the UK and most of Europe suggests to us that OnePlus will likely opt for something akin to the book-style Find N2, which, as yet, hasn’t been released outside of China.
The recent appearance of unofficial renders seem to showcase a book-style foldable with OnePlus branding, lending credence to the book-style form factor of the upcoming foldable – though it’s not simply a Find N2 dupe as some had suspected.
The Oppo Find N2 Flip
Latest OnePlus foldable rumours
Most of what we know about the OnePlus foldable has come from OnePlus itself during its MWC presentation. OnePlus President and COO Kinder Liu teased that the foldable “will have the signature OnePlus fast and smooth experience”.
He also made it clear that it’ll be a foldable without compromise. “It must be a flagship phone that doesn’t settle because of its folding form, in terms of industrial design, mechanical technology, and other aspects. We want to launch a device that aims to be at the pinnacle experience of today’s foldable market,”.
But what do we know unofficially? Well, there are a few little tidbits floating around the internet that start to paint a picture of the OnePlus foldable phone.
The book-style Honor Magic Vs
Form factor
Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station took to Weibo to tease key information about the upcoming foldable. Via Google Translate:
“The new OnePlus foldable screen is set to be Q3, and I seem to have gotten some information about the engineering machine, which is a 2K large-screen foldable.”
If true it seems that OnePlus could indeed go for a book-style foldable like the Oppo Find N2. However, the mention of a 2K resolution seems to suggest that the two foldables could differ slightly as the Oppo Find N2 features a slightly lower resolution 1792 x 1920 display.
Image Credit: OnLeaks x Smartprix
This was later backed up by unofficial renders of the upcoming foldable shared by the ever-accurate @OnLeaks in collaboration with Smartprix. The renders seem to depict a book-style foldable with a different design to the Find N2, sporting a faux leather back and Hasselblad branding on the large circular camera bump.
Other notable details from the renders include the inclusion of the famed OnePlus alert slider, a triple speaker system and a hinge mechanism that looks to resemble the Oppo Find N2 – though no surprises there.
It’s worth noting that though the renders depict a vegan leather finish, OnLeaks x Smartprix claim that it could also be available in metal or glass finishes by the time it launches later this year.
Cameras
The unofficial renders shared by OnLeaks and Smartprix seem to showcase a triple camera offering on the rear with what looks to be a periscope lens – something not commonly present in foldables.
Image Credit: OnLeaks x Smartprix
More specifically, the leakers claim that the phone will sport a 50MP (Sony IMX890) main sensor, an ultrawide and a periscope lens, along with a 32MP (OV32C) front camera.
There also seems to be a small holepunch camera within the internal display, going by the leaked renders, though we’ve not heard anything about megapixel count. It’ll likely match the 32MP external selfie camera – or something close, at least – but this remains unconfirmed.
Performance and battery
Along with the leaked renders, Smartprix suggests that the OnePlus Fold could sport the yet-unannounced (but highly anticipated) Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 chipset to deliver true flagship performance, though RAM and storage are currently unknown.
It does look appealing on the battery front, with the foldable said to sport a 4,800mAh battery – 400mAh more than the Z Fold 4 – that should deliver all-day battery life. It’s the charging that’s most exciting though, with rumoured 100W SuperVOOC charging said to be available on the foldable. If true, that’ll make it the fastest charging foldable around, leaving the 25W of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 in the dust.
Only time will tell just how different the OnePlus foldable will be from the Oppo Find N2 range, but we’ll be sure to update this article as new information appears.
