La OnePlus which was founded in 2013 was a cautious company, deliberate in its release schedule. The Shenzhen-based firm was announcing one or two phones a year, not obsessing about being first to market with new features. It was a cadence that allowed the company to distinguish itself, in part, on price, with products often costing hundreds of dollars less than the flagships of Samsung y Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),.
The company's interest in device quality has not disappeared: OnePlus continues to launch products that can compete with the big ones in the sector. His release roadmap, on the other hand, is less restrained. In January, the firm presented its new flagship, the OnePlus 11. At the beginning of February the 11R arrived, focused on India. The company also offers last year's 10T and 10 Pro models, 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.
In 2023 the first OnePlus foldable will also go on sale, that it will fulfill the promise of "something phenomenal" announced at the presentation event. Following the unveiling of the brilliant liquid-cooled OnePlus 11 concept at MWC, COO Kinder Liu sat down to discuss, among other things, the company's long-rumored entry into the category.
"We will launch our foldable phone in the second half of this year"Liu said. “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 wanted to launch the best.
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 characteristic of OnePlus"Liu added at a press conference at MWC. “It should be a flagship phone that doesn't settle for its foldable form, in terms of industrial design, mechanical technology and other aspects. We want to launch a device that aspires to be at the pinnacle of the foldable market experience today."
Recently, Oppo, parent of OnePlus, released its own foldable device, the Find N2 Flip, which takes its cues from the Flip form factor. Asked about the design of the first OnePlus foldable, Liu clasped his hands, opening them like a book, seeming to confirm something else along the lines of 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 explain why both are launching 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 remains a small niche in the smartphone market.
