The OnePlus that was founded in 2013 was a cautious company, deliberate in its launch schedule. The Shenzhen-based firm would announce one or two phones a year, without worrying about being first to market with new features. It was a cadence that allowed the company to distinguish itself, in part, through pricing, with products often priced hundreds of dollars less than flagships from Samsung and Apple.
The company’s focus on device quality hasn’t gone away: OnePlus still releases products that can compete with the biggest names in the space. Its launch roadmap, on the other hand, is less measured. In January, the firm unveiled its new flagship, the OnePlus 11. Earlier this month, the India-focused 11R arrived. These days, the company also offers last year’s 10T and 10 Pro, three budget Nord devices, five headsets, and a tablet. A new mechanical keyboard is on the way, marking the beginning of a new “Featuring” series focused on product collaborations.
2023 will also see the launch of OnePlus’ first foldable, fulfilling the promise of “something phenomenal” unveiled at the 11th launch event this month. Following yesterday’s MWC unveiling of the shiny liquid-cooled OnePlus 11 concept, TechCrunch sat down with COO Kinder Liu to discuss, among other things, the company’s long-rumored entry into the category. time.
“We will launch our foldable phone in the second half of this year,” Liu told TechCrunch through a translator. “It will also be a flagship phone, just like the other top-ranked products in our portfolio. That’s the reason why we haven’t released any foldable phones in recent years. Because we really wanted to release the best one.”
The sentiment goes back to that deliberate release schedule that defined OnePlus’ early days. Samsung defined the form factor in 2019 with the launch of the Galaxy Fold, refining the category with 2020’s Galaxy Z Flip. Last summer, it claimed to have sold nearly 10 million foldable devices in the line’s first three years.
“Our first foldable phone will have the fast and smooth experience unique to OnePlus,” Liu added at a press conference today at MWC. “It must be a flagship phone that does not settle for its foldable form, in terms of industrial design, mechanical technology and other aspects. We want to launch a device that claims to be at the top of the foldable market experience today.”
Oppo’s Find N2 Flip at MWC 2023. Image Credits: brian heater
A little over a week ago, OnePlus parent Oppo released its own foldable device, the Find N2 Flip, which takes its cue from the Flip form factor. When asked about the design of OnePlus’ first foldable, Liu cupped his hands, opening them like a book, seeming to confirm something else in line with the Fold.
Liu did not offer further information on the product. Speaking more broadly about the company, the executive referred to the “support” OnePlus has received by operating as an Oppo-owned company. These cross-brand collaborations could well indicate why both are releasing their own version of the foldable this year. It may also explain why the two products have adopted distinctly different form factors, for fear of cannibalizing sales in what is still a small niche in the smartphone market.
I spent some time with the Oppo Find N2 Flip at MWC this year and found it to be a solid foldable, which early reviews have reflected so far. The product’s $1,025 price tag also managed to undercut Samsung’s Flip significantly. Given OnePlus’ track record, it seems likely that the company will offer its own foldable at a competitive price.
