Exclusive: OnePlus believes there isn’t a ‘truly satisfactory’ foldable on the market – yet

The foldable market has gone from strength to strength in recent years, going from large-and-clunky foldables that break in the hands of reviewers within days to something altogether more premium – but it seems OnePlus’ CEO of Europe, Bingo Liu, disagrees. 

In an exclusive interview with Trusted Reviews, we got the opportunity to ask the OnePlus CEO of Europe some hard-hitting questions about the foldable industry and the company’s plans for the release of its upcoming foldable. 

As well as exclusively revealing that it’ll be dubbed the OnePlus Open and is set for a full reveal at an event in Mumbai, India, on the 19th of October, he wasn’t shy about the state of the foldable industry at the moment. 

When asked about how the OnePlus Open compares to foldables already on the market, including the popular Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Google Pixel Fold, Liu stated that “While it is true that Samsung and other brands have made valuable attempts to introduce foldable products, we believe that there hasn’t been a truly satisfactory foldable flagship product in the market yet.”

That’s firing some serious shots at Samsung, a company that’s currently on its fifth generation of book-style foldable following the release of the OG Galaxy Fold way back in 2019, although he does have a point.

Even with the release of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 in August, the big-screen foldable is still quite thick and heavy, and you’ve really got to compromise with the extremely narrow cover display that isn’t the best aspect ratio for texting or generally using the phone. 

It’s not alone in its struggle however; the Google Pixel Fold, one of the most expensive foldables on the market, looks and feels like a first-gen product with a noticeable crease on its inner display that detracts from the overall experience, and there are issues with battery life too, with the foldable struggling to last all-day in some circumstances – in our experience here at Trusted Reviews, anyway. 

That’s all to say that, if you want to use a foldable, there’s always a concession to be had somewhere, be it build quality, performance or cameras.

So, what is OnePlus going to do with the OnePlus Open to break that trend? If it’s firing shots at Samsung and co, it must have something pretty damn impressive up its sleeve.

While we’ll have to wait until the 19th to find out for sure, Liu did tease that it’ll stand out due to its “fast and smooth experience, light, compact-slim body” as well as “hinge-mechanics designed to allow for an almost imperceptible crease” along with an “excellent imaging capability”.  

And yes, Liu confirmed that, like the OnePlus 11, the OnePlus Open will have the coveted alert slider. In fact, it’s Liu’s “favourite part” of the upcoming foldable.  

It certainly sounds like it’ll fix some of the big pain points of book-style foldables, but we’ll have to wait and see for now. 

The company also has big plans for the software, which is arguably an area that needs the most attention when it comes to book-style foldables. As well as confirming that “around 95% of mainstream apps are compatible with the expanded display”, Liu teased that OnePlus has some pretty cool software features up its sleeve. 

“OnePlus also brings new and unique solutions to OxygenOS and OnePlus will continue to work with users and partners to improve [the] experience.”

The enthusiasm Liu shows for the OnePlus Open is certainly promising, but we’ll have to wait until the full launch next week to find out for sure.