Ah, foldables. The area of the smartphone market that doesn’t entirely make sense yet but is far too exciting to ignore. Now, Oneplus has joined the foldable market with the OnePlus Open smartphone, and I have to say, the company is absolutely pushing the foldable forward. With big brands like Samsung, Google and HUAWEI to compete with, OnePlus certainly took on a big fight, but I am very happy to say I think they’ve come out on top.
Unboxing
Unboxing the OnePlus Open, I was welcomed to the device wide open, with its inner screen facing me. Yes, you can still see a crease, but it’s nearly unnoticeable while the screen is running. While black, you can definitely tell it’s there. My OnePlus Open is the Voyager Black model, which reminds me of an old-school silver and black Camera, but it can also be found in Emerald Dusk. I don’t love the design; the vegan leather look doesn’t quite go to the edge of the device. It looks almost like a sticker, but it has held up well and doesn’t feel cheap.
Inside the box, there was also a black case with a similar leather finish that actually goes all the way to the edge. There is also the standard red three-foot USB-C to USB-A cable and the 80W SUPERVOOC power adapter. I’d like to see OnePlus move to Type-C to Type-C, but here we are, and I’m as happy as ever with the power adapter, so I can’t complain too much.
“The OnePlus Open definitely stands out among its competitors.”
The OnePlus Open is one of the very few smart devices, foldable especially, that come with their own case in the box. As of now, OnePlus does not intend to create any other design, but the included case feels sufficient. It matches the finish of the Voyager Black model, so it should be subtle enough for most users.
There was also all the standard paperwork, a sim tool, and a pre-applied screen protector. Unfortunately, for me, the front display screen protector has been bubbled on the edge since day two. So much so that I wasn’t entirely convinced it was supposed to stay there. However, I am a tad clumsy and have a purse full of random stuff, so it has stayed on, but the bubble is driving me insane.
Weight & Dimensions
The problem with foldable devices is that they tend to be on the heavier side, making it a process to lug them around. This is an issue that will always remain, especially if we want to consider durability as a factor, but OnePlus has managed to beat out other competitors in the foldable market.
In terms of weight, the OnePlus Open weighs less than the iPhone 14 Max Pro (240g) at 239 grams. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 sits at 253g, and the Google Pixel Fold is a massive 283g. These may not seem like major differences, but when you’re resting that phone in your hand, you’ll notice.
“Folded, the OnePlus Open beats them all out at 11.7mm thickness, with Samsung’s device at 14.5-16mm and Google’s at 12.1mm.”
Weight isn’t the only place that the OnePlus Open excels. Sitting unfolded at 153.4 x 143.1 x 5.8 mm, it brings more screen to your foldable. The Z Fold5 is 158.5mm x 128.5mm x 6.5mm, and the Pixel Fold is 139.7 x 158.7 x 5.8 mm, matching the Open in thickness while unfolded. Folded, the OnePlus Open beats them all out at 11.7mm thickness, with Samsung’s device at 14.5-16mm and Google’s at 12.1mm. The OnePlus Open definitely stands out among its competitors.
Display & Apps
But what good is that massive display if it doesn’t have the technology to back it up? Good news: the OnePlus Open features two pretty darn good displays. The front 6.31” Super Fluid AMOLED cover screen features 2K resolution, a 120 Hz refresh rate, peak brightness of 2800nits (high brightness mode of up to 1400nits) and 1.07 billion colours. It also features Ceramic Guard—protection that is 20% more impact-resistant than Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.
Yes, that makes a beautiful cover screen, perfect for scrolling social media, video chatting and more. But foldable users know that the inner display is where you will do all your video watching, photo editing and more. The OnePlus Open’s 7.82” Flexi-fluid AMOLED screen will impress users from the first time they open the device. The dynamic wallpaper that the OnePlus Open comes pre-loaded with will make sure of this.
The background feels like a gimmick. It is the most stunning geometric pattern that moves back and forth as the phone opens and closes. I call it a gimmick, but I wouldn’t dare change it. The live wallpaper perfectly highlights the OnePlus Open’s 89.6% screen-to-body ratio, 2800nits peak brightness, 10bit colour depth and 120Hz refresh rate.
I use my devices for photos, light social media, streaming and emails. Each of the OnePlus Open’s displays never disappointed in terms of clarity or colour. The screens were always fluid, with no stuttering, even during light gaming. That being said, for foldables in general, we do need to see apps step their game up and make sure they are optimized for this new size of screen.
For example, Facebook and Twitter (X?) are two of the biggest apps on the planet, but using them on the inner screen of foldable devices is frustrating at best. Pictures become massive, almost too big for the inner display and often, videos will stretch to fit, making them blurry and unflattering at best. TikTok, which is optimized properly, makes great use of the screen’s size for the comment section and is usually seamless when switching between screens, but occasionally would stretch as well.
Productivity
Still running on OxygenOS, the same operating system found on the OnePlus 11, OnePlus has taken the time to add some productivity features to the OnePlus Open that can help make up for apps that are not yet properly optimized. They have brought split-screen views to the OnePlus Open, allowing you to open two apps at once on the inner display. Here, they have gone a few steps further. One allows a third window to share the screen, and another creates simple sliders that let you switch between windows, minimizing them but keeping them easily accessible.
I played with this for far longer than I like to admit. It is a bit of a learning curve to get used to, and some small improvements that could be made. Bringing in a third window, originally, I had an option to bring it to the bottom, leaving two windows side-by-side and one below. At some point, this changed to three side-by-side, with me scrolling between them. Also useful, but I didn’t love this view. I still haven’t figured out if only certain apps allow the positioning at the bottom or if the device is giving me attitude.
Gestures play a huge role with the split-screen view as well, with pulling your thumb and three fingers together to open them all at once and pushing them apart to move them back to their respective places. There are far too many to take note of. Still, for the first time on a device, I am finding myself making use of Gestures, like on my lock screen, a drawing V will turn my flashlight on and off, two fingers down will play or pause a song, and drawing an arrow left or right will skip or rewind a song all without unlocking your device.
OnePlus also included a convenient “Recent Files” tab that sits in the sidebar, allowing you to access your most recent files and photos without diving too deep into your menus. That, paired with the glorious return of the Alert Slider and the Gestures listed above, really displays how OnePlus is trying to help users access what they need faster.
Cameras
And now, what everyone is really waiting for: the OnePlus Open’s camera performance. I have said it in many foldable reviews. The cameras just aren’t there yet. There is always so much going on, and the camera tends to be an afterthought. To me, this seems crazy, as foldables have always felt like the perfect devices for content creators, provided they pack enough power. Without a good camera, I really can’t justify the purchase of a foldable to anyone.
OnePlus has heard that call, though, and has brought their Hasselblad partnership to the OnePlus Open, blowing away the cameras on other foldables. Hasselblad is a renowned camera brand that has partnered with OnePlus in many of its past iterations. I am always impressed with the quality of a OnePlus camera, and the Open is no exception.
Starting with the main outer camera, you’ll find three lenses. We have the 48MP Sony LYTIA-T808 “Pixel Stacked” Main Camera. This features an OIS 1/1.43” CMOS sensor. Our 64MP Telephoto Camera with OIS 3X optical, 6X in-sensor zoom, and 120X Ultra Res zoom with a ½” sensor. And finally, a 48MP Ultra-Wide Camera with a ½” sensor and a 114-degree field of view.
Our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 features a 50MP Wide-Angle camera, a 12MP Ultra-Wide camera, and a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x Optical Zoom. The Google Pixel Fold features a 48MP main camera with ½’ sensor, a 10.8MP ultrawide camera, and a 10.8MP telephoto lens with 5x Optical Zoom. Even without camera knowledge, you can see those numbers don’t quite measure up to the OnePlus Open.
What does it mean, though? Generally speaking, the OnePlus Open’s photos are going to impress and not just impress for a foldable, either. For instance, the OnePlus 11 5G features a 50MP main camera with a 1/1.56″ sensor—that isn’t far off. OnePlus and Hasselblad take their cameras seriously, and the OnePlus Open delivers a photography experience that isn’t unlike that of their other flagship devices.
I was incredibly impressed with the zoom on the OnePlus Open as you can see below; compared to the OnePlus 11, the image quality, though varying, is pretty on par with the flagship. Though the 11 is darker, giving the appearance of crisper lines, I didn’t see enough of a difference to complain when zoomed in drastically.
Regularly, I found the OnePlus Open to have richer colour than the OnePlus 11, but with just slightly less detail. This was especially true in low lighting, where I feel the Open really excelled. In regular photos, I will say there is less detail than the 11, but it far outweighs the quality I have seen from any other foldable.
The OnePlus Open also features Hasselblad Portrait Mode. I don’t take many photos of myself, but I was genuinely surprised by the quality of photos taken using the outer camera in portrait mode. There was still detail in the photo, but things like redness or darkness were drastically reduced. The smaller display features a 32MP selfie camera with a 1/3.14” sensor, and the inner selfie camera is 20MP with a ¼’ sensor. These also outperform many selfie cameras on the market, so much so that I won’t be sharing any selfies.
The OnePlus Open’s main camera can capture video 4K up to 60fps, 1080P up to 240fps. The selfie cameras are limited to 4K at 30fps, which does fall below the 60fps that the Z Fold5 and Pixel Fold can do.
Battery
I’ll start with the bad. The OnePlus Open does not have wireless charging. This sounds like a small gripe, especially because of the included 80W SUPERVOOC charger, but for me, my desk and bedside are set up with wireless charging because I use my smartphone as a clock as well. Having to adjust this while switching to the OnePlus Open was less than ideal.
That being said, I have been finishing most work days sitting on the couch after dinner, with the OnePlus Open still sitting above 70% battery life. Mind you, these are days when I check occasional messages, emails and light social media, including TikTok. However, when I really tried to kill the battery, I almost couldn’t.
This test consisted of me turning the Always on Display on, with the screen timeout set to 10 minutes. From here, I spent three hours listening to music on the OnePlus Open’s triple-spatial speaker setup. I also used the device to video chat on each screen and used the inner dual screen as much as possible. I spent even more time scrolling through social media, taking photos, and, yes, listening to even more music. Twelve hours later, I was still sitting at 39%.
I have zero complaints about the OnePlus Open’s battery life, especially given the quality of its displays.
OnePlus is making a lot of great decisions when it comes to their first foldable. The OnePlus Open comes in at $1699.99 USD for the 512GB model with 16 GB of RAM. The Google Pixel Fold matches that price, and the Samsung Z Fold5 is still priced at almost $1920 USD. The OnePlus Open is by far the best foldable on the market right now, especially for its price point. Though foldables aren’t completely optimized just yet, the OnePlus Open is nearly there and definitely the foldable I would recommend.
