As the debut of the first rumored foldable from the OnePlus brand approaches, the company notes that flip phones just aren’t in the cards. This comes as its sister company, Oppo, releases the Find N3 – a flip phone.
The OnePlus foldable – rumored to be named the “Open” – will mark the first folding device from the OnePlus brand to date. It’s set to run top-end specs with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and house a pretty sick camera array that brings Hasselblad-branded hardware.
In a recent interview, Peter Lau – co-founder of OnePlus – dove into the technicality of developing a foldable for OnePlus. It’s noted that the OnePlus Open uses an updated version of the hinge found in the Find N2, which was developed under the Oppo namesake.
OnePlus has had a devoted following of Android users for many years now, and with the exodus of Carl Pei, it and Oppo – companies under BBK Electronics – have grown closer and closer in look and feel. Back in 2021, the two companies merged R&D teams, and Peter Lau became the lead of “brand synergy.” Since then, the lines between the two companies’ devices have somewhat blurred, and the latest lineup of foldable makes that case more clear than ever.
That’s why it’s incredibly interesting that OnePlus stated it has no plans to release a flip phone-style foldable at this stage. According to Pete Lau, the target for the OnePlus Open is set on “business elites” – doctors, financial workers, and executives. It seems that the target demographic doesn’t lend itself to flip phones, which have become so incredibly popular since their inception.
Target users of the first-generation folding phone of OnePlus are more like the business elites and technology elites. They are people who work in finance, they are enegineers, doctors, etc.. They are more or less the users of the OnePlus slab-style flagships. But the target users of the flip phones, they are not quite matched. So that is why, at this stage, we don’t have the plan to launch a flip phone.
Devices like the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Motorola Razr revival have proven that, with the Z Flip 5 making up over 70% of foldable pre-orders with its release alongside the Flip 5 – a book-style foldable. People are obviously interested in the prospect of a folding flip phone, which makes it odd that OnePlus doesn’t have any plans to enter that corner of the market.
This also comes as Oppo just released the Find N3 Flip. Since the Oppo and OnePlus are so close, couldn’t it just rebrand the N3 Flip under the OnePlus branding? According to recent information from the company itself, that was exactly what was done with OnePlus Open and Oppo’s Find N3.
In an email to certain publications like The Verge, OnePlus noted that both teams at Oppo and OnePlus were instructed to develop a foldable as partners. This foldable would then be released under both brands but in different regions. The OnePlus Open would likely find itself on a global scale while the Oppo Find N3 would presumably be a Chinese release.
That sentiment makes complete sense, given that OnePlus took the Find N2 hinge design and reworked it much like a company would develop a new generation of previous hardware. That lighter and stronger hinge then became the OnePlus Open cornerstone, and will likely be the Oppo Find N3’s as well.
While OnePlus is adamant it has no plans for a flip phone, that doesn’t mean one will never be produced. It obviously has the means to develop one on an accelerated scale with the help of Oppo. Still, that doesn’t mean the brand’s target demographic will change just yet, though a globally available flip phone under the OnePlus brand would likely do very well.
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