OnePlus Open Review: A Slim Foldable Smartphone With An Impressive Camera

Today, OnePlus successfully entered the foldable phone market with the launch of the OnePlus Open, following the releases of the Google Pixel Fold in June, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 in August, and the Honor Magic V2 in September.

The standout feature of the OnePlus Open is its high-end camera system, making it OnePlus’s flagship for 2023. Notably, it introduces Sony’s new LYTIA T808 image sensor with its “Dual-Layer Transistor Pixel” technology, marking the debut of this sensor type in a folding smartphone.

Weighing 239g in its black version, the OnePlus Open boasts a remarkably light and thin body, slightly thicker when folded but a hair lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max (240g). Unfolded, it is only 5.8 mm thick (same as the Pixel Fold), and it offers double the screen surface than the iPhone and two displays. The 6.3-inch external display features a 20:9 aspect ratio, comparable to large 6.7+ inch phones, distinguishing it from the narrower 6.2-inch 23.1:9 cover screen of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.

The successor of the OnePlus 11, the OnePlus Open is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Honor Magic V2.

However, we cannot compare the Open to the OnePlus 11, as the new flagship is pioneering a new mobile category: the convergence of a top-notch camera with a high-end folding experience packaged in an elegant and slim design.

Price & Availability

The OnePlus Open is set to be released on October 26th, 2023 (U.S. time), with pricing starting at $1699. It will be available in Emerald Dusk with a glass finish and Voyager Black with vegan leather on the back, featuring 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Interested customers can place pre-orders starting today, October 19th, at 11:00 am EST on OnePlus.com, Amazon, or BestBuy.com

OnePlus.com is offering compelling incentives for pre-orders, including potential discounts of up to $1,000 with an eligible trade-in and a $200 trade-in credit applicable to phones in any condition. The $1,000 discount with an eligible trade-in is subject to OnePlus’ discretion and may change.

While customers can purchase the OnePlus Open on Amazon or BestBuy.com, it’s essential to be aware that the offers may differ on these platforms.

If you live in Europe, the price in some countries is 1799 EUR.

Competition

The Google Pixel Fold, priced at $1799 and released on June 27th, features a smaller form factor than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the OnePlus Open. The Galaxy Z Fold 5, released on August 11th, shares a comparable form factor to the Open, with similar display features on both the external and internal panels.

While the OnePlus Open‘s primary competitive advantage over the Galaxy Z Fold 5 lies in its impressive rear triple-camera system featuring high-quality sensors and optics, its lower price of $1699 for a base configuration of 16GB/512GB makes it even more attractive. The Google Pixel Fold, despite its slightly lower-quality inner display and larger bezels, offers an excellent viewing experience, and some users may prefer its compact form factor.

The OnePlus Open’s distinctive Flexion Hinge design, based on a single spine architecture, sets it apart from the conventional three-part design found in foldable mobiles, resulting in a thinner and lighter device.

The new OnePlus Open is on par with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, and the Honor Magic V2 in terms of industrial design. All three devices feature the same Snapdragon 8 gen 2 SoC, and we expect the benchmarks for these devices to be comparable. We know that performance-wise, the Pixel Fold’s Tensor G2 chipset is a little behind.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 wins over the competition for its impressive user experience, thanks to the Flex Mode, and the excellent multitasking features.

Ubergizmo’s CAMERA HW score: 212

The OnePlus Open shines in camera hardware quality with an impressive Ubergizmo CAMERA HW score of 212, outperforming the other folding smartphones and ranking among the best camera phones of 2023.

Comparative scores include the Galaxy Z Fold 4 at 155, the Honor Magic Vs at 161, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 at 160, and the Google Pixel Fold at 166.

We could not compute the Honor Magic V2’s CAMERA HW score yet because we are waiting for our review unit. Stay tuned for more insights on their respective camera performance in our upcoming articles on top camera phones for Q4 2023 and the best foldable smartphones.

At that price, the lack of water resistance IPX8 certification and wireless charging, both features found in the Z Fold 5 and the Pixel Fold, is a trade-off that some consumers may not be ready to make, even for a top-tier mobile camera.

Design: lightweight and slim chassis, made with aerospace-grade materials

OnePlus touted the thinness and robustness of the Open chassis, made of aerospace-grade materials such as the zirconium-based amorphous alloy, a liquid metal material used for creating artificial bones in the medical arena.

At 11.7 mm when folded, the OnePlus is thinner than the Pixel Fold (12.1 mm) and the Galaxy Z Fold 5 (14.5–16 mm). Honor managed to do better with the magic V2 with a 9.9 mm thickness and 231g.

The glass dome housing the camera with a depth-vacuum separating camera sensors is OnePlus’s key selling point. The company claims that it is reminiscent of luxury watch designs.

Currently, the best-performing mobile cameras on the market all feature protuberant camera modules since a thicker encasing in a super-thin chassis improves the focal length and, consequently, the quality of the optics.

OnePlus brought its iconic Alert slider back and made it bigger; the fan-beloved feature allows one to toggle between silent mode and sound notifications directly from the phone.

Very bright displays

Both displays are gorgeous and deliver high-contrast images with sharp and vivid colors. Inside, the 7.82” Flexi-fluid AMOLED with 2440×2268 (2K) resolution boasts an impressive 2,800 nits peak brightness (1400 nits HBM). The 1-120 Hz adaptive refresh rate allows better power efficiency.

The 6.31” Super Fluid AMOLED cover screen has an 1116×2484 resolution, a 10-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, and a 2,800 nits peak brightness (1400 nits HBM).

Impressive triple-camera system and two selfie cameras

Camera specifications highlights:

• Wide angle (principal) 24mm 48MP f/1.7, AF, OIS
  • Sony LYTIA-T808 “Pixel Stacked” 1/1.43” CMOS sensor, 1.12um
• Ultrawide angle 14mm 48MP f/2.2, AF
  • 1/2” sensor
• Telephoto 120mm 50MP f/3.0, OIS, optical zoom 5X
• Primary internal selfie camera, 20MP, f/2.2, 1/4” sensor, 0.7um,
• Secondary external selfie camera, 32MP, f/2.4,1/3.14” sensor, 0.7um,

The OnePlus Open features an impressive camera system. Without a doubt, the star of the show is the new primary camera sensor, the Sony LYTIA-T808, which uses a new sensor design with increased light-well size (the location that stores photons).

Thanks to its “Dual-Layer Transistor Pixel,” despite its compact size, the 1/1.43-inch “Pixel Stacked” CMOS sensor delivers image quality on par with the 1-inch Sony IMX989 or that of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

That translates to a higher dynamic range and could be an alternative to Quad-Bayer style sensor designs also aiming to achieve a higher dynamic range.

Our image analysis shows that Sony’s LYTIA technology achieves its technical objectives, and we’re very excited by this breakthrough.

SoC, memory, storage, and performance

The OnePlus Open is powered by Qualcomm’s most powerful SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, also found in the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Honor Magic V2. In that regard, we expect the CPU/GPU performance benchmarks to be among the best we currently find for the mobile market.
OnePlus also offers more RAM than Google and Samsung for their large foldable phones, with the base model coming with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

We will update this review with a few benchmark charts.

Battery with fast charging and no wireless charging

The 4805 mAh battery capacity is a little disappointing, but it is a necessary trade-off for getting the incredibly thin and robust chassis designed by OnePlus. Some people will complain about the absence of wireless charging, a feature that Samsung and Google always deliver.

However, when it comes to excellent camera phones, I prefer to get a fast charger in the box (~$40 value); on that side, the Open does not disappoint. The 67W SUPERVOOC adapter recharges 79% in 30 minutes and a full charge in about 40 minutes.

By comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 needs 45 minutes to get 71% for a lower capacity of 4400 mAh, and the Google Pixel Fold charges 40% of its 4820 mAh in 30 minutes, both using a Samsung 50W charger bought separately. For a 90% charge, the Z Fold 5 requires about an hour, and the Pixel Fold needs close to an hour fifteen (the charging time may be better if you buy the appropriate Google charger).

Conclusion

The OnePlus Open is an excellent high-end foldable phone with a very thin 11.7 mm design (folded) and a noticeably lightweight (239g-245g, depending on the version). It offers everything you would expect from a foldable experience, especially the large and bright primary display, which is why buyers love this form factor.

The camera configuration truly separates this from the competition. OnePlus has heavily invested in camera hardware, and it shows. Nearly all foldables will compare disadvantageously against the best “classic smartphone” cameras.

However, the OnePlus Open can compete in the very high-end camera segment of any smartphone category. This is the breakthrough that many foldable users were waiting for.

Filed in Reviews. Read more about Android, Editorpick, Foldable, Mobile Camera Reviews, Smartphone, Smartphone Reviews and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.