OnePlus Open review: Not bad, but not great either

In its own weird way, the OnePlus Open is proof that foldables are now a viable category of smart devices.

In other words, OnePlus has done what it has been doing with smartphones for years: Offer something a little less good than the competition, for a lot less money. That’s all relative, of course. This is a $1,700 device in theory, though OnePlus’ online store will let you trade in any phone in any condition to get at least $200 off that starting price. 

With that in mind, let’s think about OnePlus Open as a $1,500 foldable. By those standards, it’s alright. OnePlus Open provides two really nice displays, impressive-looking hardware and camera specs, and a suite of multitasking features — comparable to what you get on Samsung and Google’s equivalents, both of which start at $1,800.

But that discount comes with some compromises, basic missing features, and one deeply irritating physical quirk.

What I love about OnePlus Open

Great specs, on paper

The form factor is familiar to foldable fans.
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

There are some pretty problematic elements of OnePlus Open, but its spec sheet definitely isn’t one of them. Take a look:

• 6.31-inch outer display, 10-120Hz refresh rate, 2484×1116 resolution

• 7.82-inch inner display, 1-120Hz refresh rate, 2440×2268 resolution

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip

• 16GB ram

• 512GB storage

• 4,805mAh battery

Those are all very big numbers! And big numbers usually mean good things, right? After all, you’d be hard-pressed to find bigger and better displays or more RAM in any comparable smart device. That’s one of the latest, greatest Snapdragon chips powering everything.

Pretty good at the things foldables are supposed to do

Hard to complain about its viability as a regular phone, too.
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

Another plus for the OnePlus Open: it’s competitive with what Samsung and Google offer with the Z Fold 5 and Pixel Fold, respectively, in terms of multitasking features. 

As with those phones, opening up the OnePlus Open to use the larger, almost tablet-sized inner display transforms the experience in fairly intelligent ways. There’s an app taskbar along the bottom edge of the screen that’s pretty much identical to what Samsung and Google have. Anyone who has used those phones will feel right at home here.

Simply open one app, then drag another up from the taskbar to either side of the display to put OnePlus Open in a split-screen view. You can do this with up to three apps, though the screen can really only display two at a time. The edge of the third app can be seen beside, above, or below the other two apps. To view it, just tap it; one of the other two apps will be relegated to that position instead.

You can see the third app on the left border of the screen.
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

OnePlus Open’s limit of three splitscreen apps at a time beats Google’s limit of two, but falls short of Samsung’s limit of four. 

I also found using the outer display as a regular smartphone was more than adequate, as the 6.31-inch display is just about the right size. I never felt it was abnormally tall. At 239g (or about a half-pound), it’s remarkably light for something that’s essentially two phones stacked on top of each other. 

This creates an experience on par with the Z Fold 5 and Pixel Fold on a basic level. The OnePlus Open is a nice phone to use, whether it’s folded or unfolded. Both displays are bright, vibrant, and smooth. Whether you’re scrolling social media, reading a book, or streaming videos, you’re pretty much good to go.

What I dislike about OnePlus Open

Incredibly annoying camera bump

It’s huge!
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

Unfortunately, there is one big problem with the OnePlus Open’s physical profile: The camera bump.

The right side of the phone houses the usual volume rockers, a power button, and a silencing slider. However, OnePlus partnered with Swedish camera manufacturer Hasselblad for the camera design, as it has in the past — and the result this time is a monstrously large circular camera bump that might look fancy, but gets in the way more often than not.

Seriously, the thing takes up something like 40 percent of the phone’s backside. When using OnePlus Open one-handed as a normal phone, it’s almost impossible not to touch it. I found this very annoying throughout my time with the device, and vastly prefer Google and Samsung’s smaller camera relays.

Not quite a powerhouse

Again, going back to the spec sheet, OnePlus Open should be a mega-powerhouse thanks to its state-of-the-art chipset and frankly almost excessive amount of RAM. But testing tells a different story.

The Geekbench 6 benchmarking app gave the device a relatively meager multi-score score of 4,411. Compared to benchmark scores for other recent Android handsets, it’s unimpressive. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes in at 4,987. More to the point, the OnePlus 11 from earlier this year came in at 4,891.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense for a very expensive device, with beefy-looking specs, to generate a score that much lower than other phones that should be less powerful. 

To be fair, this doesn’t mean the OnePlus Open’s performance is bad. I didn’t encounter any noteworthy slowdown or hitches in my time with it, even while multitasking three apps at once. Pretty much any new flagship device you can buy in 2023 has a baseline performance level that’s at least good. It’s just that some are better than others, and OnePlus Open falls behind some cheaper devices, according to benchmarking software.

What’s ‘eh’ about OnePlus Open

It’s not all there yet

Another potential issue with OnePlus Open that’s worth acknowledging is something that’s generally true of any manufacturer’s first attempt at something. In short, there’s one really big missing feature: Wireless charging.

At a sticker price of $1,800, you’d generally expect support for that sort of thing. I don’t personally care all that much about wireless charging, as I find it inefficient. But I know a lot of people prefer it, and they won’t be served here.

I’d be remiss not to mention that a 67W charger comes in the box; it can juice this bad boy up in less than an hour. That should soften the blow of not having wireless charging somewhat, but again, not everyone will be satisfied with that.

OnePlus Open cameras

OnePlus did not skimp on the camera specs, either. There are five total lenses (three on the back, two on the front):

• 48MP main rear lens

• 64MP telephoto rear lens

• 48MP ultra-wide rear lens

• 20MP selfie cam on the inside

• 32MP selfie cam on the outside

Again, big numbers! With those big numbers come an adequate set of modes and final results that can look reasonably beautiful, or at least beautiful enough for your Instagram feed.

I love New York.
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

One thing that impressed me was the telephoto lens, to an extent. It’s got up to 6X in-camera zoom, and up to 120X (!!!) “Ultra Res” zoom capabilities. Up to 6X, things look fantastic. I was able to get ultra-sharp photos of the Empire State Building from all the way across the East River that way.

This is at 6X zoom.
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

Unfortunately, I had a harder time getting anything positive out of the 120X zoom function. Possibly because of the fact that it’s near impossible to keep your hands steady at that level of zoom, the results look smeared.

Yeah, that’s not going on IG.
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

There’s also a 3X portrait mode option, which produces some real nice-looking shots.

3X portrait shots look nice.
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

Put simply, this is a camera array that’s at least comparable with what Google and Samsung offer on their foldables. At a discounted price (compared to those phones, anyway), I’d call that a win.

Nighttime shots look good, too.
Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

OnePlus Open battery life

I wasn’t able to use any battery benchmarking software with OnePlus Open due to a lack of compatibility, but the practical results spoke for themselves. I was able to get a little more than 24 hours of normal usage (social media, streaming music and videos, etc.) before I had to plug it in. 

That’s not overly impressive, but it’s at least on par with other contemporary flagship devices. Combine that with the fact that it charges super quickly, and battery life isn’t really a problem here.

Final thoughts

OnePlus Open is a tricky device to evaluate. It looks like a great value compared to the Z Fold 5 and Pixel Fold (especially with that trade-in discount), but it’s still a really expensive phone. Unless you’re really into the idea of having a foldable, it’s probably better to just go with the $699 OnePlus 11 — which, again, has a higher Geekbench score than the Open does.

But despite minor concerns about performance and a lack of wireless charging, OnePlus Open works as advertised. I don’t think it’s as good as the Z Fold 5, and I might even take the Pixel Fold over it because of Google’s excellent photography software. That doesn’t make it a bad phone at all, though.

In the end, it’s just alright. But if a flagship foldable from a lesser-known company can come out just alright, then foldables just might be here to stay.