Here’s all we know so far about the as yet unnamed OnePlus foldable phone.
When will the OnePlus foldable phone be released?
OnePlus has yet to actually confirm that it will release a foldable device, so there’s no indication of when or if it might arrive. That being said, the rumour mill has been quite active with news of a potential release.
OnePlus has launched plenty of phones in 2022, including the OnePlus 10 Pro, OnePlus 10T, and OnePlus Nord 2T, with the OnePlus Nord 3 potentially still to come – so it’s possible that the foldable may be something that’s planned for 2023 instead.
That’s exactly what tipster Max Jambor has teased, in an only slightly cryptic visual leak for the launch:
You never know though, OnePlus could well surprise us with a sudden announcement and unveil its first foldable before the end of the year.
How much will the OnePlus foldable phone cost?
As with the release date, we don’t have any solid details about how much you’ll need to spend to buy a foldable phone from OnePlus. What we do know is that many rumours suggest that the OnePlus foldable will be heavily based on the Oppo Find N, so we can use that device’s prices as a guide.
Here’s how much the Oppo Find N costs in China, where it’s on sale now:
Oppo Find N (8GB/256GB): ¥7699 (approx £929/€1,111/$1,208)Oppo Find N (12GB/512GB): ¥8999 (approx £1,085/€1,299/$1,413)
If the rumours are true, then the OnePlus foldable could have very similar price points to that of those listed above.
What specs and features will we see in the OnePlus foldable phone?
Indian tech site PriceBaba was where the strongest rumours about the OnePlus foldable originated. In April it posted a story outlining that the new foldable would be “a copy of Oppo’s Find N.” This was in collaboration with tech reporter Yogesh Brar who regularly contributes to sites like 91Mobiles, which specialises in leaks about new devices.
This isn’t as unusual as it might sound, because OnePlus is one of the subsidiary companies of BBK Electronics, which also owns Oppo, Realme and Vivo. We’ve also seen in the recent past that the two brands in question now share teams for R&D and design.
Pete Lau, the chief product officer for both OnePlus and Oppo (and one of OnePlus’s founders) has shared a tease of what appears to be a foldable phone’s hinge on Twitter, confirming that work is still ongoing on more foldables. This could simple be a reference to a second-gen Oppo Find N, or the rumoured Oppo clamshell foldable, but it’s just as possible that this is our first look at a component from the first OnePlus folding phone.
It could be that BBK is looking at developing different brands in particular marketplaces. OnePlus is well established in the US, UK, and European markets, so it could be a strategy that OnePlus launches essentially the same device as Oppo, but for the West, while Oppo will focus on the Asian markets where the name recognition is stronger.
With the Vivo X Fold unveiled in April 2022, it would seem reasonable to assume that the remaining BBK companies, OnePlus and Realme, enter the fray quite soon, which would be made much easier by the sharing of technologies across their brands. It thus seems most likely that the eventual OnePlus foldable will be based on either the Oppo Find N or its follow-up.
It’s a more compact form factor compared to the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4 that also launched this year.
For now, you can check out our guides to the best new phones coming in 2022 as well as the best phone deals to see if you can pick up a bargain.
