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? 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.
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.
That’s especially true if the design is indeed closely based on Oppo’s Find N2 range – OnePlus wouldn’t want to release a near-duplicate of another phone available in that market, would it?
Of course, it’s entirely possible that Oppo’s foldable isn’t that heavily based on Oppo’s Find N range, in which case it could indeed release both book-style and clamshell-style foldables.
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,”.
Besides OnePlus’ official confirmation and the trademark registration in China, there isn’t that much to go on at this stage. Kudos to OnePlus for managing to keep it under wraps, I suppose!
However, there are a few little tidbits floating around the internet that start to paint a picture of the OnePlus foldable phone.
Form factor
The only real leak we have right now comes from Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station who 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.
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.
