The OnePlus Open is the first OnePlus camera I’ve actually liked [Gallery]

Ben Schoon | Oct 26 2023 - 11:30 am PT

OnePlus has, despite its “Never Settle” tagline, always struggled a bit with cameras. While there have been improvements, I’ve never been super happy with the brand’s efforts, but the OnePlus Open finally changes that with a camera that’s capable of some truly stunning shots.

The first few generations of OnePlus smartphones had acceptable cameras, but they usually felt like an afterthought compared to the rest of the device. That started changing with the OnePlus 9 Pro, which was a marked improvement over past iterations. And, in the time since, every OnePlus phone has had a camera that’s objectively not terrible and arguably pretty decent. But when viewed in the light of competition, even OnePlus flagships feel like varying shades of mediocrity.

Finally, though, it seems like OnePlus has figured it out.

The OnePlus Open foldable adopts a new Sony LYT-T808 camera sensor, which is “Pixel Stacked.” The basic explanation of what that sensor does is use a dual-layer setup to capture more light while having a smaller overall sensor. It’s practically the equivalent of a 1-inch sensor.

In practice, that’s led to a dramatic difference in image quality. Over the past couple of weeks using the OnePlus Open, I’ve been capturing shots that are far and above any OnePlus device I’ve used previously and that arguably rival my Pixel.

Pictures speak louder than words, though, so here are a few of the shots I’ve been particularly happy with.

And this goes beyond just the main sensor. The OnePlus Open is the first OnePlus device with a periscope lens on its camera, and it’s excellent. The 3x optical lens can hit 6x by cropping, and the quality is pretty killer. See below for 1x, 2x, 3x, and 6x shots.

Notably, all of the shots in this post are compressed, so check this Google Photos album for full-size samples.

Smartphone cameras today are all, generally speaking, pretty good. The big thing for me is consistency, which is where Google’s Pixel (and Apple’s iPhone) really excels. I can trust my Pixel to take a shot and know that, in almost any condition, it’s going to be decent. OnePlus isn’t quite there yet, as it’s still pretty easy to trip up this camera. But in good lighting, I’ve had very few misses. It’s only where the light drops off and HDR needs to pick up the slack that the Open starts to struggle, but even then, I’ve been pretty happy with a lot of the shots I’ve gotten so far.

The best part is that this doesn’t seem to rely on software. These results are thanks to what seems to be just a really good piece of camera hardware. Smartphone photography tends to rely more on software than hardware at this point, but with this sensor, it seems like OnePlus is combining a rock solid foundation with software processing that’s at least up to par.

If OnePlus can stick to this formula, I think the brand can easily overtake Samsung for the No. 2 spot in Android photography (at least in the US). Samsung’s smartphones have continually ignored consistency and struggle greatly with any amount of motion in almost every lighting condition.

OnePlus has stepped up in a huge way, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

The OnePlus Open is available for purchase starting today for $1,699 from OnePlus.com, Best Buy, and Amazon, and our full review is coming soon.