OnePlus Open foldable phone renders paint a better, more realistic picture

Last month’s big Samsung event attempted to remind people that foldable phones are here to stay. While the fancy and hip Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the one making headlines, large foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 5 are still the first thing that comes to mind when people talk about this kind of form factor. Of course, Samsung is no longer the only game in town either, and OnePlus even boldly made that fact known right at the start of Samsung’s device launch with an equally bold name. While most brands, Google included, focused on how these devices fold down, OnePlus might have chosen the name “Open” to send a very different message. That said, the OnePlus One’s design might not be completely different from what we’ve seen before, but it seems that there will be some big changes that will set this phone apart, at least visually.

Designer: Steve Hemmerstoffer/OnLeaks (via SmartPrix)

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard or even seen what is allegedly the OnePlus foldable, with inklings and leaks already trickling down for months. Back then, it was christened the OnePlus V Fold, more in line with the naming convention of foldable phones. It also had a fairly typical tall design, with a circular camera bump that’s becoming a norm on foldables other than Samsung. In all honesty, the images felt more like a rehash than the daring character that OnePlus often paints for itself. Fortunately, that’s not going to be the case it seems.

A fresh batch of renders shows a design that diverges from the older ones in important ways. The biggest difference is the aspect ratio, now wider when folded and more horizontal when unfolded. This puts its closer to the design of the OPPO Find N2, but these cousins are far from being twins. The OnePlus Open, should that be truly its name, has very flat edges, though its outer rounded corners are more pronounced. Although the inner corners near the hinge are still angular, the screen and back cover are cut to be curved, giving the illusion of rounded corners that make the entire design more symmetrical.

The camera design has also shifted, both inside and outside. The internal selfie camera moved from the left corner to the right corner, a more natural spot for it, while the circular camera bump is now larger and thicker. The latter could hint at an upgrade in specs, especially with an unknown sensor sitting below the Hasselblad “H” logo, speculated to be a 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor. There’s still a faux leather cover on that side, though it’s unknown whether there will be other options without this material.

Internally, the OnePlus Open is expected to have the staple high-end components, so it will be battling Samsung and other brands in terms of design, overall experience, and camera performance. OnePlus will surely play up the “Open” name, but it remains to be seen if its first foldable phone will have the same groundbreaking impact that the OnePlus One had which catapulted the brand into stardom.

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OnePlus V Fold leaked renders show a large foldable phone with a Hasselblad camera system

With a launch date set for sometime this year, OnePlus might just be the last major Android brand jumping into the foldable space… but like they say, it’s more important to do it right than to do it first.

OnePlus isn’t one to shy from innovation. They’ve made phones with electrochromic glass, they even designed a fluid cooling system into the OnePlus 11 Concept which debuted at MWC this year, and the phone maker is now ready to debut their first foldable, allegedly dubbed the OnePlus V Fold. Set for a launch sometime this year, the V Fold features the same book-like folding style of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, the Oppo Find N2, and the Google Pixel Fold. Thanks to these rendered images based on leaks provided to Smartprix and OnLeaks, we have a pretty detailed look at the upcoming foldable, along with a few strong speculations on the hardware front too.

Designers: OnLeaks & Smartprix

Based on the phone’s folding format, it will feature a primary folding screen and a full-size secondary screen on the front, prompting folded as well as unfolded use. As has been the case with a lot of OnePlus phones in the past, this device will have a camera system powered in collaboration with Hasselblad, and even though the circular camera bump feels a lot like the one on the OnePlus 11, there’s a slight deviation in the form of an offset flash module that sits on the top left corner. The camera setup is rumored to include a 50MP main camera and a telephoto lens for periscope zoom functionality. The phone is speculated to have two selfie cameras, both rumored at 32MP each. The back looks to be made from faux leather, giving the phone a premium touch along with that extra bit of grip needed to hold the hefty device. After all, nobody likes dropping their phone, especially when it’s an expensive foldable.

Based on credible rumors, the V Fold will sport a 2K AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a triple-speaker setup for stereo audio. The phone itself is expected to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 or an upgraded Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 chipset, alongside a 4800mAh battery with 100W SuperVOOC charging.

Given OnePlus’ close association with OPPO, the phone is also expected to sport the Flexion metal hinge seen in OPPO’s Find N2. This unique hinge helped the smartphone have a smaller, slimmer design and it’s speculated that the OnePlus V Fold will benefit from that bit of innovation too. While the faux leather back seems to be a pretty distinct part of the phone, the V Fold will probably come with regular glass variants too (yet another design detail taken from the OPPO playbook).

A close look at OnLeaks’ renders shows the reappearance of the beloved alert slider, whose disappearance in the OnePlus 10 created quite an uproar in the community. While the alert slider makes its way back to the phone, the power button is also expected to have a fingerprint sensor built into it, circumventing the need for a fingerprint sensor underneath the display. Whether this is accepted by the OnePlus fan base is yet to be determined.

The OnePlus V Fold is expected to launch in Q3 this year, with a focus on sales in India, China, and the US. The price, meanwhile, is yet to be determined, although given the OPPO Find N2’s $1050 price tag upon launch, expect the OnePlus V Fold to start in the $1,000 ballpark.

Image Credits: OnLeaks & Smartprix

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OnePlus 11 Concept’s liquid cooling technology is another example of innovation that’s commercially useless

It’s a great-looking concept, but is it capable of being more than just a concept?

Unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the OnePlus 11 Concept’s highlight feature is its ‘subsurface pipeline’ of liquid cooling, dubbed the Active CryoFlux cooling system (apparently it isn’t a dig at the Nothing phone (1)’s glyph interface). Designed to boost gaming performance by cooling the phone down by as much as 2°C, the Active CryoFlux cooling system also has the added advantage of literally looking cool too, with tiny bubbles traversing up and down the piping structure on the back panel and around the camera bump… but that’s pretty much all there is to it. Unveiled as a conceptual device, the smartphone’s cooling system seems to be nothing but an experimental technology that probably won’t make its way into phones because gaming phones are a niche that OnePlus has never catered to. So what exactly does the OnePlus 11 Concept hope to achieve? Well, Marques Brownlee rather bluntly says that it’s “just a PR stunt at the end of the day”.

Designer: OnePlus

After roughly a week of speculating what those blue lines on the phone’s rear were (notification lights, fingerprint sensors, etc.), turns out they’re OnePlus’ latest innovation in compact liquid cooling. The phone comes with an “industrial-grade piezoelectric ceramic micropump” and a network of pipes curving around the rear panel, which circulate a blue liquid around the phone’s battery and camera bump, cooling the device down by up to 2°C. It’s enough to result in a performance uplift of between 3 and 4 frames per second, or even help cool the phone while it’s charging, OnePlus says. Visually, it does add a unique dynamism to the phone’s rear. The blue pipes have pulsating, moving lights inside them, making it look like the liquid’s circulating around the chassis of the phone. Remarkably enough, the liquid cooling setup doesn’t even add any weight or thickness to the handset, making for a pretty compelling concept.

Although the amount of actual cooling the Active CryoFlux tech will do is pretty much debatable at this point (we can’t verify it either because it’s a concept), the focus of the phone really seems to be the ‘light show’ at the back. Somewhat feeling like a dig at Carl Pei, the 11 Concept’s rear light show also claims at being ‘functional’, like the Nothing phone (1)’s glyph interface. However, realistically, it really doesn’t merit proper discussion because the cooling feature isn’t really a feature if no consumer is ever going to benefit from it… and that really seems to be the ongoing trend with this current barrage of concept phones, whether it’s Xiaomi’s bonkers 12S Concept with attachable Leica lenses, or Lenovo/Motorola’s rollable phone from a few days back, or even OnePlus’ own concepts, including the partnership with McLaren in 2020.

The OnePlus 11 Concept is the third such concept from the Oppo subsidiary, following the Concept One with McLaren which featured electrochromic glass over the camera that turned opaque to block the lenses, and the 8T Concept, which had an entire back panel made from electrochromic glass, which could change color on demand, altering your phone’s aesthetic in seconds. As impressive as the technology seemed back then, it never was viable, given how expensive electrochromic panels were (Apple spent $427 million on electrochromic glass panels alone for their Cupertino HQ building windows). The Active CryoFlux cooling system on the 11 Concept is impressive too, but it feels like an R&D flex more than anything, with very little chance of application in real life. I’m willing to, however, give OnePlus the benefit of doubt that this technology will eventually be viable at scale and phones in the future will have oozing liquid-cooling pipes inside them. Until then, call me a skeptic… and call this a winning strategy because OnePlus got exactly what they wanted – coverage.

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OnePlus 11 Concept teaser images show a Nothing phone-like glyph interface shining through the back

Is OnePlus finally responding to estranged founder Carl Pei’s latest company?

Nine days ago, Carl Pei did something most CEOs don’t usually do. He uploaded a review of the OnePlus 11 on Nothing’s YouTube channel. After leaving OnePlus in 2020, Carl severed all association with the company he founded, focusing instead on Nothing – his new venture. This YouTube video was a fun way of looking at how far OnePlus had come after his departure. Today, OnePlus (now an Oppo subsidiary) replied with a cryptic image showing a phone that looks rather heavily inspired by the Nothing phone (1). The device, titled the OnePlus 11 Concept, will debut at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this following week.

Designer: OnePlus

Details on the OnePlus 11 Concept are extremely scant, but a user on Weibo did leak the above image, giving us a rather comprehensive look at what the phone’s back will visually appear to be. The otherwise black back panel is punctuated by a series of icy blue lines, hinting at either lighting or a novel liquid cooling system. The back panel’s rumored to be made from carbon fiber, with the blue lines running right underneath it, as is shown in the image below. There’s even a blue ring around the phone’s camera bump, giving the entire conceptual phone a distinctly futuristic, almost-TRON-like appearance. Details around the OnePlus 11 Concept will be revealed at MWC in Barcelona, which starts on Monday, February 27th.

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OnePlus launches first flagship Android Tablet with premium design and impressive hardware-software combination

It’s been a while since we have heard news about a new Android tablet. For reasons best known to me, I had started visualizing OEMs genuflect in the iPad shadow. OnePlus has jolted me back to sense, suggesting the obvious: There is still a market and OnePlus Pad is the Android tablet we were waiting for all this while.

The first tablet from Oppo sub-brand, in almost a decade of creating the most compelling flagship killers, the OnePlus Pad doesn’t have a pricing yet but its official and expected to arrive in India, North America, and Europe in April 2023. We had been seeing designers toiling with their iterations of what the OnePlus tablet would be like, and now we have an official idea.

Designer: OnePlus

Since it’s a premium Android tablet, the OnePlus Pad comes with a hardware and software combination to impress. The tablet touts a premium aluminum unibody construction, which ensures the entire contraption skims some fat and weight. The OnePlus tablet measures only 6.54mm at the thickest point and is pretty lightweight.

The tablet’s large 11.61-inch display touts 144Hz refresh rate and a usual 7:5 screen ratio. The Pad is powered by a Dimensity 9000 processor and comes in a choice of 8 and 12GB of RAM. It features an eye-pleasing circular camera array at the back panel, though the company has refrained from revealing the specifics of the unit.

What we are clear about is the battery backup you can expect from the OnePlus Pro. It comes packed with a 9,510mAh battery pack, which should – and the company confirms – offer 12 hours of backup in while binge-watching your favorite series. In normal surfing and light usage, the battery should easily last a day.

OnePlus offers SuperVOOC charging capability to ensure you don’t waste time charging the tablet when you are on the go. Courtesy of the company’s fast-charging tech, the Pad can power up at up to 67W charging speeds. At this speed, the 9,510mAh battery onboard can charge fully in 80 minutes flat.

Designed for reading books, playing games and consuming media, the OnePlus Pad offers Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support. Reportedly, the tablet can work effectively with the OnePlus stylus and company’s magnetic keyboard, which will ideally be sold separately, to create a more tactile experience for work efficiency.

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OnePlus Pad will bring a somewhat unusual design to the tablet market

Until Apple started trying to present the iPad Pro as something to replace traditional computers, the tablet market seemed to be on its last breaths. Suddenly, plenty of new slates started popping up, not yet counting the foldable phones that unfold into small tablets. Despite that revitalization, the fundamental formula for tablets had changed very little, especially when it came to cameras. With the front-facing camera taking a more important role, the rear camera is almost like something that’s there just for the sake of being complete. Ever the upstart, it seems that OnePlus wants to make that camera more prominent, suggesting that it could have a bigger role to play in its first-ever tablet.

Designer: OnePlus (via Steve Hemmerstoffer)

Tablet cameras have always been less impressive compared to their smartphone cousins, even if both come from the same generation or year. The reasoning is perhaps the lack of uses for a rear-facing camera on a tablet, while the front camera will be heavily utilized for video calls. That said, more recent high-end tablets from Apple and Samsung have indeed stepped up their game, but they have barely changed when it comes to their design.

The OnePlus Pad, the brand’s first Android tablet, is aiming to stand out from the crowd visually, which isn’t that difficult considering how similar-looking most tablets are these days. While the tablet is expected to have a metal unibody design and flat edges, a staple of premium tablets these days, it will have one design detail that you will rarely find in others of its kind. According to renders and confirmed by OnePlus itself, the OnePlus Pad’s rear camera will be placed in the middle of its long edge rather than in the typical corner.

This makes the camera more prominent and visible on this large 11.6-inch tablet, which suggests it might even be more capable than your typical tablet cameras. Indeed, it has a large circular bump that is reminiscent of the confirmed camera design for the OnePlus 11 that will be launching on the same date, February 7th. It could simply be a visual embellishment, but OnePlus is known to be a bit more modest in design changes that don’t bring any functional benefits.

Together with the placement of the front camera, which is also on the same long edge, OnePlus is using design to inform people how this tablet is meant to be used. Unlike most tablets, the OnePlus Pad is designed for a horizontal or landscape orientation, which is how you’re most likely to use it not only to watch videos but also to do some work. OnePlus will probably focus on these use cases when it makes the big announcement next week, pitting the OnePlus Pad against big shots from Apple and Samsung.

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OnePlus goes beyond mobile with a stylish mechanical keyboard

OnePlus may have started out as an upstart that challenged the status quo of the smartphone industry, but it has long moved beyond making phones only. Never mind related accessories like earbuds and wearables, the company has also launched its self-branded TV in a few of its key markets. Then again, a smart TV might not be that far removed from the mobile ecosystem, especially one that’s running Android TV. A mechanical keyboard, on the other hand, could be stretching the association a bit, but that is apparently what OnePlus’s community has been thirsting for. As a company that prides itself on listening to strong community feedback, that is exactly what OnePlus will be doing, presenting a customizable mechanical keyboard that admittedly looks elegant and very much a OnePlus product, at least based on teasers.

Designer: OnePlus

You might find it strange that OnePlus users would be clamoring for a keyboard accessory, mechanical or otherwise, at least until you realize that these very same people often have to spend hours every day in front of a computer. If that’s the case, it makes sense that they’d want a tool that not only makes their lives easier but also reflects their lifestyle choices. A mechanical keyboard definitely addresses the first part, but one that is branded and designed like a OnePlus product definitely checks all the right boxes.

Responding to this resounding desire for a OnePlus mechanical keyboard, the company partnered with the famed keyboard maker Keychron to lay the foundations for such a product. Of course, the highlight isn’t just the mechanical keyboard itself, which you can also get from a pure Keychron keyboard, but the way it is designed to match OnePlus’s aesthetics and design philosophy. For example, unlike typical flashy mechanical keyboards, this upcoming OnePlus peripheral embraces a very minimalist design, using tones of gray with some red accents in the Escape key and the switches.

There are also a few design highlights that give the keyboard a unique OnePlus flair. The slider that switches between Wireless and Wired (USB) mode, for example, looks quite similar to the Alert Slider on OnePlus phones. There is also a visually stunning glass knob in the upper right corner, which could probably be programmed for different functions. OnePlus is also quite proud of its double gasket design and the use of “ultra-precise” CNC aluminum manufacturing that covers the sight, sound, and tactile experiences of using a sophisticated mechanical keyboard.

OnePlus also talks about the customization options available for the keyboard, from hot-swappable switches to highly configurable software. It doesn’t go into detail about how far those options go, however, and they will most likely be limited to switches and key caps on the hardware side. A lot of information about the keyboard is still unavailable at this point, but the scheduled February 7th launch is just two weeks away anyway.

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OnePlus 11 phone is coming next week with an eye patch camera design

Before there was Nothing, the darling of the smartphone world, at least on the Android side, was OnePlus. It arrived on the scene with guns blazing, challenging the status quo of feature-rich smartphones that only the rich could comfortably afford. It’s arguable whether the company has been able to maintain that mission, especially with its rising prices and the way its peers have started carrying the same message. That said, every new phone under its brand is still a matter of interest to many Android fans, and its next flagship might not be an exception. The OnePlus 11 is set to launch in China next week, and it will be bearing a camera design that is both unique yet also mildly excessive, blending different styles together.

Designer: OnePlus

OnePlus’ design philosophy focused more on bringing components and materials that are usually found in more expensive brands to a more affordable handset. There was even a point in time when it offered different materials and styles for replaceable back panels, including a variety of wood as well as Kevlar-based carbon. As far as the overall design goes, however, OnePlus didn’t stray far from current trends, but it has been trying to create its own visual identity of late. And based on the company’s own pre-launch teasers, its next flagship will definitely be distinctive in terms of its camera design.

As camera hardware gets more sophisticated and bigger, so, too, do the modules that hold them. There has been a variety of designs used by different brands ranging from the discreet to the obscene. Some designs seem to build off on others, like how the OnePlus 10 earlier this year seemed to have taken some of the elements from the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s “Contour Camera” design, making it look like half a visor or one of those sci-fi cybernetic eye implants.

The OnePlus 11, based on the company’s own teaser photos, takes this a step further by planting a circle right on top of that camera module while also rounding one of the edges. This design subtly hides the fact that the camera module is actually taller than it normally is due to bigger hardware. To be fair, OnePlus has made the design look fluid and smooth to mitigate the visual disruption such a large shape would have on the back of the phone. It’s definitely eye-catching, though not necessarily in a good way.

OnePlus hasn’t disclosed much of the hardware aside from the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and fast LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage technologies. It will most likely have cameras that will make that rather overstated design worth the space it occupies. It also seems that OnePlus is teasing the return of its popular sandstone material for at least one model, though its availability is, of course, uncertain at this point. The OnePlus 11 will be announced in China on January 4th, but global availability won’t happen until a month later.

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Combining two speakers in one, One Plus lets you carry most suitable one for different situations

iPod Classic brought about a divine change in personal music consumption and it inspired various renditions within Apple’s assembly lines and beyond. I wouldn’t expect it to be an inspiration for a device in 2022 but the detachable little part of the One Plus Bluetooth Speaker does take me back in time.

It features an iPod Classic-like circular control panel and a speaker system on top where the little screen rested on the portable music player from Apple. It detaches or clings back into the body of the One Plus speaker (which as the name suggests is a one + one device: the main speaker plus the detachable tiny tot).

Designer: Jiayan, Li

Designed in neat white with subtle orange accents, the speaker system is meant to play music with hands-free ease from your smartphone or computer using Bluetooth. Since we carry the most suitable speakers for different situations – whether indoors or outdoors – Jiayan, Li has conceived this blend of a mini and a large speaker for us. The combo can be used independently or combined to build a music system at home or outdoors.

One Plus Bluetooth Speaker, therefore, allows you to enjoy listening to music around the house while reading a book or reconfigure the setup to relish crystal clear music while exercising outdoors. According to the designer, the form factor of the One Plus speaker is pretty geometrical. It is based on square, circle, and pill shape: the elements in combination create the complete design.

Meant for portable usage, the speaker(s) is lightweight and has an ergonomic design, whether you consider the pill-shaped detachable option or the larger book-like form factor, which features a handle for convenience on the go. The speaker automatically connects to devices over Bluetooth or presumably latches on to the Wi-Fi network to stream audio directly from your device. So the only thing you have to think of is, what song to play!

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OnePlus 10 Pro brings back a rarely used color and material

It’s only just February, and we’ve already seen quite a number of new phones unveiled. Unsurprisingly, Samsung hogged most of the spotlight, though its gigantic tablet might actually be overshadowing its flagship smartphone. One of the earliest brands to reveal their hand this year, however, still hasn’t made its phone available outside of China. In the meantime, OnePlus has just announced a new color variant for that still MIA OnePlus 10 Pro, painting it with a combination of white and black that it has unabashedly associated with a panda.

White phones aren’t exactly new, but they have become rarer as the mobile industry moved towards glass back panels. There are a few exceptions, of course, like Apple and its propensity to paint everything white. Google also tried it with what became known as the “Panda” Pixel 2 XL back in 2017. Now OnePlus is borrowing the name and probably has a better reason to call this OnePlus 10 Pro variant “Panda White.”

The new phone color installs a layer of white ceramic on the back of the phone. The camera bump, which looks like a giant monocle for four eyes, is painted black, contrasting sharply yet nicely with the white surface around it. In the middle of that black mass, however, is a white circle that houses the LED flash with another black circle inside it, making it look like an eye. With this color combination, it’s not hard to imagine a one-eyed panda staring at you from the back of the phone.

As mentioned, a white and black colorway for a phone isn’t unheard of but uncommon these days. It’s not that manufacturers don’t want to make them, especially considering how some buyers do actually want this color. As OnePlus explains, it’s actually tricky and expensive to produce white glass panels for phones. Even the slightest imperfection or contamination in the process will have catastrophic effects on the production line.

OnePlus, however, upped the ante even more by using ceramic instead of glass, a material that’s far rarer than white phones. It’s a premium material that feels great in your hand, giving a warm feeling that isn’t affected by how hot the phone is running. It’s also more durable than glass but also more expensive and more difficult to work with. It took the company 100 tries before finally settling on a final design.

It’s no surprise, then, that OnePlus will be limiting this Panda White Ceramic finish to the “Extreme Edition” of the phone, and we expect it to be a lot more expensive than its other forms. Unfortunately, the OnePlus 10 Pro still has to make its way to other markets, including the US, probably by March or April. By then, however, the buzz might have already died out, presuming it even brings this Panda phone outside of China.

Designer: OnePlus

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