If you fancy a folding phone then you’ll want to pay attention to the brand new OnePlus Open, the first foldable from OnePlus. For several years, Samsung has been the only Android phone maker selling widely available phones that fold, but now OnePlus is here to steal the show.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 will take some beating – it’s a very polished folding phone built on knowledge of four years of previous models – but the OnePlus Open looks very impressive indeed.
Express.co.uk has had some time with the OnePlus Open and we are very impressed with it, especially as it’s OnePlus’s first ever try at the complicated folding tech.
Here are five ways we think the OnePlus Open is better than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.
Just like the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the OnePlus Open is a book-style folding phone. That means it has a screen on the outside when closed that is meant to act like a regular smartphone, but the device can then be opened like a book to reveal an inside screen that is like a small tablet computer.
We much prefer the dimensions of both screens on the OnePlus Open compared to the Z Fold 5. That’s because Samsung’s outer screen is long and narrow, making it feel a bit like holding a TV remote control. It means typing is squashed and the keyboard is very small, and apps can be cut off or look squashed.
The OnePlus Open has a normal size outer display that looks and acts normally. And when open (see what they did there?), the large 7.8-inch inside screen is more pleasant to use as you get an extra 0.2-inches of space.
That large inner screen is also nicer to use on the OnePlus Open because it has a much less noticeable crease than the Galaxy Z Fold 5. When these incredible screens can fold in half it’s because there’s a hinge built in, so the glass and plastic screens much naturally have some sort of crease.
The Z Fold 5’s looks like a ravine in comparison to the OnePlus Open’s, which is barely noticeable even in direct light. We can barely feel it either, whereas Samsung’s has a true dip in the screen. Full marks to OnePlus for the ingenious design here.
We’ve used both phones extensively and can safely say the OnePlus Open has better cameras. Like the Z Fold 5 it has triple cameras on the rear, with truly remarkable results from the main and telephoto lenses in particular. Shots look bright and crisp and with better colour reproduction than Samsung.
The zoom is far superior, with shots sharp and well rendered without going blurry up to 6x punched in. Samsung’s cameras are by no means bad, but they are noticeably worse than on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, a ‘regular’ smartphone that costs hundreds less than the Z Fold 5. By comparison, the OnePlus Open has cameras good enough to rival the Ultra – it’s one of the first folding phones where the manufacturer hasn’t sacrificed camera quality.
It means the OnePlus Open has a big bulky circular camera bump on the back, but that’s the trade off. The inner screen’s cut out selfie camera is also miles better on the OnePlus than the terrible under-display one on the Z Fold 5, which though is hidden when you’re not using it, it takes awful photos and videos.
The Z Fold 5 can charge plugged in and wirelessly – but Samsung ships the pricey phone with just a cable, and no charger in the box. You have to pay extra for that.
The OnePlus Open doesn’t have wireless charging, which is a shame, but we much prefer that it has 67W wired charging, which is much faster than the Z Fold 5’s 25W speeds. Not only that but OnePlus gives you the charger in the box, so you’ll be able to fully charge it from empty in just 42 minutes without having to pay any more.
If all that sounds good to you then we’ve saved the best news for last. The OnePlus Open is not a cheap phone, but it costs less than the Galaxy Z Fold 5. You can pre-order the OnePlus Open for £1,599, a full £150 less than the £1,749 Galaxy.
Pre-orders on the OnePlus Open let you pre-pay £99 to secure the device, which has limited stock, but that gets you £250 off the full RRP and a free pair of OnePlus Buds Pro 2 worth £179, too. That means you’ll pay £1,349 overall for a folding phone and premium earbuds – £400 less than the Galaxy Z Fold 5 on its own. The Open goes on full sale at full price on 26 October.
We’ll have a full review of the OnePlus Open soon at Express.co.uk. It could well be the best folding phone we’ve seen yet.
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Alex Smith is a writer and editor with over 10 years of experience. He has written extensively on a variety of topics, including technology, business, and personal finance. His work has been published in a number of magazines and newspapers, and he is also the author of two books. Alex is passionate about helping people learn and grow, and he believes that writing is a powerful tool for communication and understanding.
