It's been well over a year since we first got our hands on the OnePlus Open, and now rumors of a successor seem to be intensifying. Parent company Oppo appears to have confirmed the February launch date for its next foldable device, the Find N5, with a teaser on Weibo. This launch window will likely only be for China, but we expect this new phone to launch globally later as the OnePlus Open 2.
I'm a well-known fan of the original OnePlus Open, which showed me that foldable devices are more than their advertised potential. And after two happy months with the OnePlus Open as my daily driver, I knew it was on our list of the best foldable phones.
However, there are a few reasons why I'm writing about the Open in the past tense – the phone has a few rough edges that eventually made me switch back to slab phones. My curiosity about the foldable form factor hasn't waned, however, and I recently booted up the Open and wondered if I could make the switch again.
The news of an impending new revision brings even more light to this question. As our review of the OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R shows, OnePlus is currently a real hit in the world of standard phones. So I hope the company can continue this success with its foldable devices: Here are 5 things I want to see from the OnePlus Open 2.
A bigger, better battery
One of the most noticeable downsides to using a folding phone is the shorter battery life compared to a similarly equipped compact phone, and the OnePlus Open is no different.
Even if you use the Open for a day, you'll certainly end up paying more attention to the battery level than you would with a comparatively expensive standard phone.
Part of this is due to the physical limitations of a device split in two by a hinge. The mechanics take up valuable interior space and two cells are rarely as efficient as a single battery.
However, we are at a tipping point when it comes to battery technology. Phone makers are starting to push aside lithium-ion batteries in favor of silicon-carbon battery designs, which have much higher energy density and can therefore hold more charge in the same area. I was lucky enough to experience this new technology with the Oppo Find).
As a subsidiary of Oppo, it's thought that OnePlus could benefit from the Find series' battery upgrades, and a high starting price will hopefully give the company the resource headroom it needs to equip the phone with a silicon-carbon battery. Modern flagship phones need to be all-day devices, and the Open would do well to be able to really keep up.
A lighter construction
Use the OnePlus Open one-handed for long enough and you'll have a few thoughts: “Wow, that screen is huge,” “I wonder how they did that?” and finally, “Damn, this thing is nice.” . “of difficult”.
Even as a TechRadar phone and tablet writer, I wouldn't recommend using your phone for extremely long periods of time without stopping, but even so, the 239g OnePlus Open is noticeably heavy for more than a quick scroll.
For comparison, the iPhone 16 Pro Max weighs 227g, while the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra weighs 232g. Both phones have a larger display (6.9 inches and 6.8 inches respectively) than the OnePlus Open's 6.31-inch external display, indicating its sheer density.
Beyond that, the whole thing fold This essentially prevents the Open from offering decent one-handed ergonomics, as it has much more depth and volume than a typical flagship. Again, this is part of the trade-off when using a folding phone, and ideally the large internal screen will attract most of the user's attention, but it would still be nice if the phone was easier to use when folded.
Luckily, the latest rumors are hopeful. We previously reported that the OnePlus Open 2 could be the world's new thinnest foldable phone when it launches, surpassing the Honor Magic V3's 4.35mm unfolded thickness, while GSMArena reports that the Open 2's frame could be made of titanium Significantly lighter than the stainless steel U for the current generation Open.
Even better cameras
This one might move things forward – at launch, the OnePlus Open bucked the foldable phone camera trend by giving users a truly up-to-date flagship camera system at a time when people and critics alike were a bit underwhelmed by the toned-down triple camera setup -Camera setup on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and now the Galaxy Z Fold 6.
For reference, the OnePlus Open has a 48MP main camera, a 48MP ultra-wide camera, and a 64MP telephoto camera with 3x zoom – I can tell you from experience that it's up there with the best phone cameras out there I've ever used can keep up – but that doesn't mean there's no room for improvement.
However, times have changed in recent years and the competition is slowly becoming, well, competitive. The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold comes with a 5x telephoto camera, and the aforementioned Honor Magic V3 has a range of fantastically useful cameras.
What's more, the rest of the industry is advancing rapidly when it comes to photography – just check out the incredible image samples you'll find in our Xiaomi 14 Ultra review, Oppo Find X8 Pro review, or Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review. The fewer compromises a folding phone offers the user, the better, and I'd like to see the OnePlus Open 2 make the most of its lead in photography.
A software safety net
The OnePlus Open's 7.82-inch interior display is its defining and best feature, but presents a unique challenge when it comes to optimization. Not every app you find in the Google Play Store is optimized for foldable devices, especially older apps and games, meaning apps can be difficult to use or even crash altogether when switching from the outer display to the inner panel.
It would be ridiculous to expect every developer to prepare their apps for the ultimate niche foldable phone market, but perhaps OnePlus could close some of the gap by implementing some sort of software safety net with the OnePlus Open 2 that protects the internal or Outer display to continue running unoptimized apps in their original aspect ratio when the user switches to one of the displays.
I'm by no means a developer, so forgive me if this is completely impossible – but if this kind of display awareness is feasible, it would be an encouragement to those who are concerned about running their favorite apps on a folding phone while also using the Advantages of taking advantage of the flexibility of the platform.
A higher IP rating
Folding phones like the OnePlus Open are far more mechanically complex than traditional phones and have multiple moving parts that require a lot of space to operate. Unfortunately, this means there's little chance of a folding phone ever getting an IP68 rating – at least not with current technology.
The OnePlus Open has an IP rating of IPX4, meaning it's splash-proof but offers no protection from solid particles – beachgoers beware.
This is one of the few categories where the OnePlus Open lags significantly behind. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 achieves IP48 protection – submersible and resistant to 1mm wide particles, while the Pixel 9 Pro Fold can take a bath, but not with dust.
This is another issue where you can't hope for much, but Samsung has proven that better durability is possible. Most flagship phone users haven't really worried about durability in years – aside from the occasional tumble on the pavement – so moving closer to industry-standard IP68 certification would be a welcome upgrade for the OnePlus Open 2.
OnePlus has yet to reveal any official information about the rumored OnePlus Open sequel other than a February launch window – we'll be eagerly covering the latest updates in our dedicated OnePlus phones coverage.