Following a slew of leaks, rumors, and speculations over the past several months, OnePlus has finally confirmed plans for its first folding smartphone. The confirmation comes a couple of weeks after the company teased its first foldable at the OnePlus Cloud 11 event that saw the global launch of the OnePlus 11 smartphone alongside the OnePlus Pad, OnePlus Buds Pro 2, OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro, and OnePlus Keyboard 81 Pro. The company has long been rumored to be working on its first folding smartphone, but this is the first time the product has been officially confirmed.
In an interview with TechCrunch on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 in Barcelona, OnePlus COO Kinder Liu confirmed that the company's first-ever foldable phone is currently in development, and would launch in the second half of 2023. Liu did not reveal anything specific about the upcoming phone, but said that it will be a flagship device positioned at the top of the company's product portfolio. He also said that the company took so much time to release a folding device because it wanted to make it the "best one" in the market.
OnePlus Foldable Coming This Year
Speaking at the 'From Fast & Smooth to Beyond' panel discussion at MWC 2023, Liu also claimed that the device would offer "the signature OnePlus fast and smooth experience." According to him, the device will be in keeping with the company's motto of 'Never Settle,' offering "industrial design, mechanical technology, and other aspects."
Liu did not reveal anything about the phone's tech specs or design elements, but given that Qualcomm SVP Christoper Patrick was on the panel, it is very likely to be powered by a Qualcomm chip, most likely the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that does duty inside the OnePlus 11. The device will also almost certainly run Android 13, given that Android 14 is not expected to be released to the public before August 2023. That said, nothing is definitively known about the device at this point.
Samsung and Huawei have been among the earliest adopters of folding smartphones, offering the Galaxy Z Fold and Mate X series devices for years. Oppo joined the party relatively recently, offering the excellent Find N series devices that have been well-received by the media and buyers alike. The upcoming OnePlus foldable is also expected to be based on either the Find N2 or the next-gen Find N3, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
Source: TechCrunch