OnePlus has taken the fight to Samsung with the launch of the OnePlus Open, a foldable phone that costs £150 less than the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and claims to have far superior cameras.
OnePlus’s first ever folding phone is a book-style folding phone with a regular-sized smartphone screen on the outside when closed, but when opened down the vertical hinge reveals a large 7.82-inch inner display closer to the size of a small tablet.
It packs in a premium design with matte green glass back, the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset for top shelf speed and performance, and triple cameras on the back with OnePlus promising “uncompromising” photo results – suggesting other folding phones have lesser cameras than their price tags would have you think.
There’s a 48Mp main camera along with a 48Mp ultrawide lens and 64Mp zoom lens which can grab sharp shots at up to 6x zoom, or even further with digital help. Hopefully these cameras live up to their billing considering the OnePlus Open still costs an eye-watering £1,599, which though cheaper than Samsung’s £1,749 Galaxy Z Fold 5 is still double the price of the latest £799 iPhone 15.
If you like the idea of a folding phone then this could be the one for you given it’s a slim 5.8mm when open – and given it’s called the OnePlus Open, the inside screen is clearly where OnePlus thinks you’d spend most of your time. It looks like the company has done a great job of hiding the inevitable crease folding phones have where the hinge folds the screen in half – the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Google Pixel Fold both have very noticeable creases, but the OnePlus Open has minimised it thanks to a clever hinge.
Despite all the moving parts the phone is IPX4 rated for water splashes but you won’t want to drop it in the bath. OnePlus is also promising four years of Android updates and five years of security updates, so the OnePlus Open will be kept fresh till 2028. OnePlus says it has tested the phone to fold and unfold one million times, which is more than 100 folds every day for more than 10 years.
Both the inner and outer displays have 120Hz refresh rates for smooth scrolling and gaming, plus there’s 67W fast wired charging that can fully charge the phone in 42 minutes – and the charger is included in the box, something Apple, Samsung, and Google no longer offer.
If you want to take the foldable plunge the OnePlus Open is available to pre-order from 20 October for £1,599 with 512GB storage and 16GB RAM. It goes on full sale in the UK on 26 October, but OnePlus says there is “limited stock”.
