OnePlus Open Review: Cover Screen, Software and Cameras

The first foldable phone from OnePlus arrived with a clear promise: a book-style foldable that feels like a normal phone when shut and a small tablet when open. The OnePlus Open release date was 26 October 2023, and it launched at a flagship price of around $1,699, putting it directly against the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. That is a bold place to start for a first attempt, yet OnePlus had a real advantage. Its parent company had already built foldables under the Oppo brand, so the Open did not feel like a rough first draft. It felt like a polished device that had learned from two generations of its close cousin, the Oppo Find N2, before it ever reached a shop shelf.

What makes this phone interesting in 2026 is not the novelty of folding. It is how little the folding gets in the way. The cover screen is wide enough to type on, the main screen is bright enough to read outdoors, and the software treats the big screen as a workspace rather than a stretched phone screen. The cameras carry Hasselblad tuning, the battery charges fast, and the whole package weighs 239 grams, which is lighter than most of its direct rivals. After months of living with foldables, I keep coming back to one question: does the Open remove enough of the usual foldable compromises to be worth its price? This review works through that question screen by screen, camera by camera, and day by day.

Readers looking for a quick answer should know the shape of it early. The OnePlus Open display is excellent on both panels, the OnePlus Open software is the most practical multitasking setup on any foldable of its generation, and the OnePlus Open camera system is the strongest ever fitted to a OnePlus foldable at launch. The trade-offs are real too: there is no wireless charging, the water resistance rating is modest, and the long-term software support window is shorter than Samsung offers. The rest of this article puts numbers and daily experience behind each of those claims, so you can decide whether this foldable fits the way you actually use a phone.

OnePlus Open Cover Screen: A Phone That Works Folded Shut

Most foldables ask you to accept a narrow cover screen as the price of the big screen inside. The Open refuses that deal. The OnePlus Open cover screen size is 6.31 inches with a 20:9 aspect ratio, which is almost the same shape as a regular flagship phone. You can type on it with two thumbs, read a full message without scrolling sideways, and open a map without feeling like you are looking through a letterbox. In our OnePlus Open review cover screen testing, the folded phone handled about 80 percent of daily tasks without ever being opened, from replying to chats to checking a boarding pass at an airport gate.

The cover panel is a 6.31-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a resolution of 2484 by 1116 pixels, and a peak brightness of 2,800 nits. That brightness figure matters more than it sounds. A cover screen is the screen you use in sunlight, on the street, and in the car, and the Open stays readable in all three. Colours are vivid without looking artificial, and the 10-bit panel shows smooth gradients in photos and video. The glass is Ceramic Guard, and the frame is aluminium, so the folded phone feels dense and solid rather than hollow. At 11.7 mm thick when folded, it is slimmer than the Galaxy Z Fold 5, and it sits in a pocket without the wedge shape that makes some foldables awkward.

One detail deserves attention: the cover screen is not a second-class screen. OnePlus gave it the same 120Hz LTPO refresh rate, the same high brightness, and the same colour calibration as the inner panel. That means switching between the two screens never feels like a downgrade. Notifications, widgets, and the always-on display all work on the cover screen, and the fingerprint sensor in the power button is easy to reach whether the phone is open or shut. For anyone who has tried a foldable and given up because the outer screen felt cramped, this is the single biggest reason to look at the Open.

Cover Screen Size and Daily Reach

A 6.31-inch cover screen changes how a foldable fits into a day. Typing is the clearest example. On a narrow 6.2-inch 23:9 cover screen, the keyboard is squeezed and mistakes pile up. On the Open, the keyboard is almost full width, and swipe typing works at normal speed. I wrote long messages, edited notes, and searched for addresses on the cover screen without opening the phone, and the error rate was no worse than on a regular slab phone. That matters because the whole point of a foldable cover screen is to save you from opening the device for small jobs. If typing is painful, you open the phone for everything, and the foldable advantage disappears.

Reading is the second test. News articles, emails, and social feeds render at a normal width, so lines are long enough to read comfortably and short enough to scan quickly. The OnePlus Open screen on the outside handles video well too, with a 20:9 frame that suits most streaming content without heavy black bars. Photos look sharp at 431 pixels per inch, and the panel supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, so streamed shows keep their contrast and colour. The only time the cover screen feels small is when you compare it directly with the 7.82-inch panel inside, which is exactly the comparison the phone wants you to make.

Typing, Notifications and Quick Tasks on the Cover Screen

Notifications on the cover screen behave like they do on any good Android phone. They arrive grouped by app, they expand with a tap, and quick replies work from the notification shade. The always-on display shows the time, date, battery level, and notification icons in a clean layout that does not drain the battery noticeably. Double-tapping the screen wakes it, and the face unlock on the cover camera is fast enough that you rarely think about it. The inner camera handles face unlock when the phone is open, and both cameras work with the same setup.

Quick tasks are where the cover screen earns its keep. Checking a calendar event, paying with a tap, scanning a QR code, taking a quick photo, and answering a call all happen without unfolding. The camera shortcut on the lock screen opens the rear cameras fast, and the cover screen doubles as a preview display for selfies taken with the main cameras, which is one of the best hidden tricks of any foldable. You get the quality of the 48MP main camera for a self-portrait while seeing yourself on the outer panel. That is a genuine advantage over a slab phone, and it costs nothing extra.

One-Handed Use on the Move

One-handed use is the quiet test that separates a good cover screen from a bad one. The Open is 73.3 mm wide when folded, which is narrow enough to hold securely, and the 239-gram weight is spread evenly across the body. The power button and volume keys fall under the thumb of a right-handed user, and the fingerprint sensor unlocks the phone before you have finished lifting it. Walking, carrying a bag, or holding a coffee in the other hand, the folded phone works with one thumb. That sounds basic, but it is the difference between a foldable you carry every day and one you leave at home on busy days.

When You Should Open the Phone Instead

There are still jobs that deserve the big screen. Reading a long document, comparing two web pages, watching a film, editing a photo, or working in a spreadsheet all feel cramped on the cover screen, and the phone knows it. The transition from cover to inner screen is smooth: apps continue where they left off, video keeps playing, and maps keep your place. The phone does not force you to choose one screen or the other. It lets the cover screen handle the quick jobs and the inner screen handle the long ones, and that split is what makes the Open feel like two devices that share one brain.

OnePlus Open Display Quality Review: Two Screens, One Experience

The OnePlus Open display quality review starts with a simple fact: both screens are among the best fitted to any phone of 2023, foldable or not. The main panel is a 7.82-inch Flexi-fluid AMOLED with a resolution of 2268 by 2440 pixels, a 120Hz LTPO 3.0 refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 2,800 nits. The cover panel matches it at 2,800 nits peak, 120Hz, and full HDR support. Two screens at that level is rare. Most foldables give you one great screen and one acceptable one. The Open gives you two great ones, and the colour tuning is matched so closely that moving an app from one screen to the other does not change how it looks.

Brightness is the headline number, and it holds up outside. In direct sunlight, the inner screen stays readable at high brightness without washing out, and the cover screen is even easier to see because it is smaller and flatter. The LTPO backplane drops the refresh rate to 1Hz when the screen is static, which saves battery on the always-on display and while reading. Scrolling is smooth at 120Hz, and touch sampling keeps up with fast swipes and games. The panels support a DCI-P3 wide colour gamut, 10-bit colour depth, and a 1440Hz high-frequency PWM dimming mode that reduces flicker for sensitive eyes at low brightness.

Sound deserves a mention alongside the display, because a big screen is only half a media device. The OnePlus Open speakers are a stereo pair tuned with Dolby Atmos support, and they are loud and clear enough for video in a quiet room. They do not replace headphones, but they are a step above the thin speakers on many slab phones, and the wide body of the unfolded phone gives the two speakers real separation. Readers comparing display and audio heritage across OnePlus phones may enjoy the older OnePlus 8 Review: Display, Audio and Overall Experience, which covers how the company built its reputation for bright panels and clean sound long before it made a foldable.

Main Foldable Panel: Brightness, Colour and the Crease

Every foldable has a crease, and the honest question is how much you notice it. Is the OnePlus Open hinge crease visible in daily use? Yes, you can see it if you look for it, especially on a white background at an angle, and you can feel it if you run a finger across the centre of the screen. In normal use, reading, watching video, and browsing, it fades into the background within a day or two. OnePlus uses a waterdrop-style hinge that lets the panel fold with a wider radius, which keeps the crease shallower than on the earliest foldables. The screen also has a factory-fitted protector that you should not peel off, since it is part of the display assembly.

Colour accuracy is strong out of the box. The default Vivid mode is punchy without pushing skin tones into orange, and the Natural mode tracks sRGB closely enough for photo work. The OnePlus Open inner screen brightness nits figure of 2,800 is a peak value for small bright areas in HDR content, while sustained full-screen brightness in sunlight sits closer to 1,200 to 1,400 nits, which is still excellent. HDR video on the big panel is the best showcase: highlights stay bright, shadows keep detail, and the nearly square 1.0758:1 aspect ratio suits films and documents that would feel cramped on a tall slab screen.

Refresh Rate and Touch Response

The 120Hz LTPO refresh rate adapts from 1Hz to 120Hz depending on what is on screen. Reading a static page drops the rate and saves power, while scrolling and gaming push it to the top of the range. The change is smooth enough that you never notice the steps, and the touch response feels immediate. Games that support high refresh rates run fluidly, and the large panel gives your thumbs room without covering the action. The cover screen uses the same adaptive range, so the phone feels consistent whichever panel you are using.

Reading, Video and Work on the Big Panel

The inner screen is where the Open justifies its price. Two apps side by side each get a usable width, a full web page fits without constant zooming, and a PDF page is readable at a comfortable size. Video in the nearly square aspect ratio leaves black bars on widescreen films, but the picture is large and bright enough that the bars stop mattering. For work, the big panel turns the phone into a pocket notebook: you can read a document on one side and take notes on the other, or keep a video call open while checking an email. That is the foldable promise, and on the Open it is delivered without the software friction that held back earlier foldables.

Eye Comfort and Low Brightness Use

Night use is kinder than on many OLED phones thanks to the high-frequency PWM dimming and a low brightness floor that does not crush shadow detail. The reading mode and dark mode work across both screens, and the blue light filter can be scheduled for the evening. People who read in bed will appreciate that the inner screen at minimum brightness is dim enough not to disturb a partner, while still keeping text readable. It is a small thing, but foldables are used in bed more than most phones, and the Open handles it well.

OnePlus Open Software and OxygenOS Features

The OnePlus Open software is the part of this phone that most deserves praise, because hardware alone does not make a foldable useful. The phone launched with OxygenOS 13.2 based on Android 13, and the OnePlus Open software update path has since brought it to newer Android versions with the usual OxygenOS refinements. OnePlus promised four years of major Android updates and five years of security patches, which is generous for a first-generation foldable, though still a year short of what Samsung offers on the Galaxy Z Fold line. The OnePlus Open OxygenOS features that matter most are not the theme options or the icon packs. They are the multitasking tools built around the big screen, and they are the best in this class.

OxygenOS on the Open feels close to stock Android, with fast animations, a clean settings layout, and very little duplicate software. There is no heavy skin fighting the foldable form factor, and the settings for the foldable screens are easy to find: you can choose whether apps continue on the cover screen when you fold the phone, how the taskbar behaves, and which apps open in split screen by default. The software also handles the awkward moments well. Folding the phone mid-video, rotating it, or opening it from the lock screen all behave the way you would expect, without apps restarting or losing their place.

Readers who want to compare how OnePlus handles design, software and camera quality on a more recent slab phone can look at the OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Design, Software and Camera Quality. The Nord 5 shows the same OxygenOS ideas at a lower price, while the Open shows what those ideas become when they have a 7.82-inch canvas to work with. The shared DNA is clear: quick settings, a tidy launcher, and camera software that stays out of the way.

Open Canvas: Split Screen Apps That Actually Fit

The headline feature is Open Canvas, and this is where a OnePlus Open Open Canvas multitasking explained section is essential. Open Canvas lets you run two apps side by side, with a third app floating in a window on top, and it handles the space differently from every other foldable. Instead of squeezing each app into half the screen, Open Canvas gives each app a full-size window and lets you slide between them. One app can take up most of the display while the other waits just off-screen, a tap away. The OnePlus Open split screen apps experience feels like working on a small desktop, not like peering at two phone screens taped together.

In practice, the combinations that work best are the obvious ones: a browser next to a notes app, a map next to a messaging app, a video next to an email, or a document next to a calculator. The OnePlus Open multitasking features also include app pairs, so a favourite combination can be saved to the home screen and opened with one tap. Drag and drop works between apps where Android supports it, so you can drag a photo into a chat or a link into a note. The OnePlus Open Canvas workspace is the reason the inner screen feels like a desktop rather than a stretched phone display. The learning curve is short, about a day, and after that the big screen starts to feel like the normal way to work on a phone.

Taskbar, App Pairs and Recent Apps

A taskbar sits at the bottom of the inner screen, showing recent apps and a shortcut to the app library. It appears when you swipe up from the bottom edge, and it makes switching between apps fast without returning to the home screen. Recent apps show a live preview, and you can lock an app pair so it survives a restart. The floating window mode lets a chat or a calculator hover over a full-screen app, which is handy when you need a quick reply without leaving a video. None of these features is new on its own, but together they make the inner screen feel like a workspace rather than a stretched phone display.

Software Update Policy and What Changed After Launch

Four years of major Android updates from a 2023 launch means the Open should reach Android 17, with security patches into 2028. That is enough for most buyers, and the updates so far have improved the camera processing, added new multitasking gestures, and refined the cover screen widgets. Buyers in 2026 should check that the phone they buy has received its updates, because early software had a few rough edges around app continuity that later builds fixed. The update cadence has been steady, roughly every two months for security patches, with larger feature updates a few times a year.

What OxygenOS Gets Wrong

The software is not perfect. A few apps still do not scale well to the nearly square inner screen, showing stretched layouts or odd spacing. Some banking and media apps refuse to run in split screen at all, which is an app problem as much as a phone problem, but it still limits the experience. The app library and shelf widgets are useful but forgettable, and the always-on display options are thinner than on a Samsung phone. These are minor complaints next to the multitasking core, but they are worth knowing before you buy.

OnePlus Open Camera Review: Hasselblad Tuning in a Foldable

Foldable cameras are usually a compromise, because the hinge and the thin body leave little room for large sensors. The Open is the exception. The OnePlus Open camera review verdict is that this is the best camera system on any foldable of its generation, and it holds up against slab flagships too. The rear system has three cameras: a 48MP main camera with a Sony LYT-T808 sensor and optical image stabilisation, a 64MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 48MP ultrawide camera with a 114-degree field of view. Hasselblad tuning covers the colour science, and the dedicated modes include the Hasselblad XPan panoramic format and a portrait mode with classic focal lengths.

The main sensor is the key part. The Sony LYT-T808 is a stacked sensor with a large light-gathering area for a foldable, and it gives the Open a real advantage in low light. Photos have natural colours, good dynamic range, and detail that survives cropping. The OnePlus Open camera is not trying to win a megapixel race. It is trying to take reliable, good-looking photos in the situations people actually shoot: a meal in a dim restaurant, a child running across a park, a street scene at dusk, a document on a desk. In those situations it delivers more often than it misses, which is the only camera test that matters.

For a sense of how far OnePlus cameras have come, the older OnePlus 7T Review: Cameras, Performance and Battery Life is a useful marker. The 7T was a strong camera phone for its year, but its processing was aggressive and its low-light results were uneven. The Open keeps the colour character OnePlus fans recognise while adding a much larger sensor, a proper telephoto, and far better night processing. The gap between the two phones shows how much of the improvement came from hardware rather than software alone.

Main Camera in Daylight and Low Light

In daylight, the main camera produces sharp, well-exposed images with colours that look true to life. The Hasselblad colour profile keeps greens and skin tones natural, and the dynamic range holds both sky and shadow in the same frame. The default 12MP binned output is the right choice for most shots, giving clean files with low noise, while the full 48MP mode is there when you want to crop hard or print large. Autofocus is fast and reliable, locking onto faces and moving subjects without hunting, and the shutter lag is short enough for candid shots.

Low light is where the big sensor pays off. Night mode combines several frames into one clean image with good detail and controlled noise, and the optical stabilisation keeps shutter speeds low without blur. Street scenes at night keep their colour and atmosphere instead of turning into a muddy orange wash, and indoor shots in warm lighting look natural rather than yellow. The main camera is not the best low-light phone camera ever made, but it is the best low-light camera ever fitted to a foldable at this price, and the difference is visible in the first evening you use it.

Telephoto Zoom and Portrait Shots

The OnePlus Open telephoto camera zoom quality is the most pleasant surprise in the system. The 64MP periscope-style telephoto offers 3x optical zoom, 6x in-sensor zoom, and digital zoom up to 120x, though anything beyond about 10x is for emergencies only. At 3x and 6x, images are sharp, detailed, and well stabilised, which makes this the right lens for portraits, distant subjects, and anything you cannot walk closer to. The 3x focal length is also the classic portrait length, and the portrait mode uses it to produce pleasing background blur with clean edge detection.

Portraits deserve a closer look because Hasselblad tuning shows up most clearly here. The portrait mode offers 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 65mm, and 85mm-style framings, and the bokeh rendering is smooth rather than smeared. Skin tones stay natural, and the background blur falls off gradually instead of cutting a hard edge around the subject. For anyone who takes a lot of portraits, the telephoto is the reason to choose the Open over a foldable with a weaker zoom camera, and it is one of the strongest arguments for this phone full stop.

Ultrawide and Night Mode

The 48MP ultrawide camera covers a 114-degree field of view and focuses close enough for macro shots, so it doubles as the macro camera. Landscapes, architecture, and group photos all benefit from the wide angle, and distortion at the edges is controlled well. The OnePlus Open ultrawide camera night mode is genuinely useful: night shots from the ultrawide are brighter and cleaner than on most phones, though they cannot match the main camera for detail. Close-up shots of flowers, food, and small objects are sharp and well lit, and the autofocus on the ultrawide is reliable where many phones use a fixed-focus macro lens.

Video Recording and Selfies

Video tops out at 4K at 60 frames per second on the rear cameras, with Dolby Vision HDR support and good stabilisation. Walking footage is smooth, audio from the microphones is clear, and the colour matches the photo output, which makes editing simpler. The OnePlus Open front camera selfie quality is good on both selfie cameras: the cover camera is 32MP and the inner camera is 20MP, and both record 4K video. The OnePlus Open selfie trick worth knowing is the rear-camera selfie: unfold the phone, use the cover screen as a viewfinder, and take the portrait with the 48MP main camera. The result is far better than any front camera can manage, and it costs nothing but a few seconds.

OnePlus Open Performance Test: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in Daily Use

The OnePlus Open performance test starts with the chipset, and there is nothing to apologise for here. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was the flagship Android processor of 2023, and it still handles everything in 2026 without strain. It is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, which is the only configuration OnePlus sold. There is no cheaper 8GB version to regret, and no storage tier to second-guess. The OnePlus Open Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 combination opens apps quickly, keeps a dozen apps in memory, and switches between the cover and inner screens without reloading.

Daily speed is excellent. Apps launch in a blink, scrolling is smooth, and the phone never stutters when moving between split-screen apps. The 16GB of RAM means multitasking rarely forces an app to reload, which matters on a foldable where you are more likely to run two or three apps at once. The OnePlus Open storage 512GB UFS 4.0 speed is fast enough that installing a large game, copying a video file, or opening a big photo library never feels slow. Storage is not expandable with a microSD card, so 512GB is what you get, and for most buyers that is plenty for apps, photos, and a healthy offline media library.

Heat is controlled well. The phone uses a large vapour chamber cooling system, and it stays comfortable during long video calls, navigation, and photo editing. Extended gaming warms the top half of the phone, but it does not get hot enough to be uncomfortable, and performance stays stable rather than dropping sharply after ten minutes. The OnePlus Open gaming performance Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 delivers is strong: demanding games run at high settings with steady frame rates, and the big inner screen gives you a wider view of the action. The trade-off is battery drain, which is heavier in games than in normal use, as it is on every phone.

For a comparison with how OnePlus tunes daily speed on a mid-range phone, see the OnePlus Nord 4 Review: Daily Performance and Key Features. The Nord 4 is a good example of smooth everyday performance at a lower price, while the Open shows what the same philosophy looks like with a flagship chip, twice the RAM, and a foldable screen to feed. Both phones prioritise responsiveness over benchmark bragging, and both feel faster in the hand than their spec sheets suggest.

Benchmarks and Real-World Speed

Benchmark scores for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 sit near the top of the 2023 Android charts, with strong single-core and multi-core results and a capable GPU. Those numbers are useful for comparison, but the real-world test is simpler: does the phone feel fast after a year of use, with a full set of apps installed and a busy notification history? The answer is yes. OxygenOS stays light, background apps are managed sensibly, and the storage speed means app updates and photo processing happen quickly. The phone also handles the foldable-specific load well, driving two high-resolution 120Hz panels without dropping frames in the interface.

Gaming, Heat and Sustained Performance

Gaming on the inner screen is one of the best uses of a foldable. The wide display shows more of the game world, touch controls have room to breathe, and the stereo speakers add to the experience. Long sessions of demanding games hold a steady frame rate for the first half hour, with only a small drop as the phone warms up. The cover screen is the better choice for quick games and for playing while lying down, since the phone is lighter and easier to hold folded. Either way, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and 16GB of RAM give the Open headroom that will last for years of new games and apps.

RAM Management and App Continuity

RAM management is generous. Apps stay in memory for hours, so returning to a browser, a document, or a chat picks up exactly where you left off. App continuity between the cover and inner screens is reliable: open an app folded, unfold the phone, and the app expands to fill the big screen without restarting. Fold it again, and the app moves to the cover screen if you have set it to do so. A few apps still restart on folding, usually older apps that were never built for foldables, but the common apps all behave correctly.

OnePlus Open Battery Life Test and 67W Charging

The OnePlus Open battery life test result is solid rather than spectacular, and that is the honest way to put it. The battery is 4,805mAh, split into two cells, one in each half of the phone. That is a large battery for a foldable, but it has to feed two bright 120Hz screens, so the screen-on time lands in the same range as a good slab flagship rather than beating it. In mixed use, with the cover screen doing most of the work and the inner screen used for reading and video in the evening, the phone comfortably lasts a full day, usually ending with 20 to 30 percent left. Heavy inner-screen use, especially video and gaming, pulls that down toward the end of the day, but the phone rarely dies before bedtime.

The OnePlus Open battery drain overnight test is reassuring: with the always-on display on and the phone idle, the drain is around 3 to 5 percent over eight hours, which is normal for a modern Android phone. Standby drain with the phone folded is low, and the adaptive refresh rate helps by dropping both panels to 1Hz when nothing is moving. The OnePlus Open battery is a dual-cell design, which is also what makes the fast charging possible, since each cell can be charged in parallel.

Charging is where the Open pulls ahead of its rivals. The OnePlus Open charging speed test shows a full charge from empty in about 42 minutes with the included 67W SUPERVOOC charger, and a 10-minute top-up adds roughly a third of a charge. The OnePlus Open 67W SUPERVOOC charging time is far faster than the Galaxy Z Fold 5, which charges at 25W and takes well over an hour. The OnePlus Open SUPERVOOC charger is included in the box in most regions, which is worth noting at a time when many flagships ship without a charger at all. There is no wireless charging, which is the clearest missing feature in this section, and there is no reverse wireless charging either. If you charge overnight on a wireless pad today, you will need to change that habit.

A Full Day of Mixed Use

A typical day tells the story better than a single number. Morning messages and news on the cover screen, maps and music on the commute, a video call on the inner screen at lunch, photos in the afternoon, and an hour of video in the evening leaves the phone at roughly a quarter charge by 11pm. That is with the brightness on automatic and the refresh rate at its adaptive setting. Turning the inner screen brightness down and using the cover screen more stretches the day further, and the battery saver mode is effective without making the phone feel slow. The OnePlus Open battery life test conclusion is simple: the battery is good enough for a full day for most people, and the charging is fast enough that the battery rarely becomes a problem.

Charging Speed, Heat and Battery Health

Fast charging generates heat, and OnePlus manages it with a battery health engine that learns your charging habits and slows the charge overnight to protect the cells. The phone stays warm rather than hot during a 67W charge, and the dual-cell design spreads the load. Battery health after a year of use holds up well in practice, with most owners reporting little noticeable loss of capacity. The sensible advice is the usual one: use the included charger when you need speed, and use a slower charger overnight if you want to be kind to the battery over several years.

Power Saving Tips That Actually Help

The tips that make a real difference are boring but effective: use the cover screen for quick jobs, keep the adaptive refresh rate on, lower the inner screen brightness indoors, and turn off the always-on display if you want an extra hour. The battery settings page shows which apps use the most power, and restricting a badly behaved app can add more to battery life than any single setting change. The 5G modem is efficient, but switching to Wi-Fi at home saves power on long downloads and video calls.

OnePlus Open Full Specifications

The OnePlus Open full specifications below cover every part of the phone, from the two displays to the sensors, so you can compare it directly with any rival. The OnePlus Open specs list is the launch specification, and software updates since launch have added features without changing the hardware. Check the official product page for the latest software version and for regional differences in network bands and included accessories, since the charger and the case vary by market.

The OnePlus Open weight and thickness figures deserve a second look, because they are the reason this foldable feels different in the hand. At 239 grams, the Open is lighter than the Galaxy Z Fold 5 at 253 grams, and at 5.8 mm unfolded it is one of the thinnest foldables of its year. The OnePlus Open IPX4 water resistance meaning is narrower than most buyers expect: IPX4 protects against splashes from any direction, such as rain or a spilled drink, but it does not protect against submersion. Do not take this phone swimming, and do not use it in the shower. Samsung offers stronger water resistance on the Fold 5, and that is a genuine advantage for the rival.

The OnePlus Open hinge is a Flexion hinge with a waterdrop fold, which lets the two halves close flat with no visible gap. OnePlus rates the hinge for a very large number of folding cycles, tested to a six-figure count, and the mechanism feels smooth and firm, holding the phone open at any angle between about 45 and 120 degrees. That half-open position, often called flex mode on other phones, works for video calls and for taking photos at a low angle with the phone standing on a table. OnePlus Open foldable screen durability is good for normal use, but the inner screen is still softer than a glass slab screen, so a fingernail or a sharp object can mark it. Keep the factory screen protector on, and do not press hard on the centre of the panel.

One question that comes up often is the OnePlus Open stylus support or not question, and the answer is simple: there is no stylus support on either screen, and no pen is sold for this phone. If handwriting and drawing matter to you, a Samsung foldable with S Pen support is the better choice. The OnePlus Open durability story is otherwise strong: the frame is aluminium, the cover glass is tough, and the hinge has survived long-term use well in owner reports, with the crease staying shallow and the mechanism staying smooth after a year of daily folding.

OnePlus Open vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5

The OnePlus Open vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 comparison is the one every buyer makes, because these two phones defined the book-style foldable market in late 2023. The table below compares them on the criteria that matter most, and the verdict depends on what you value. The OnePlus Open vs Fold comparison favours the Open on screens, cameras, charging, and weight, while Samsung wins on water resistance, stylus support, and the length of software support. Neither phone wins everywhere, and the right choice depends on your priorities.

The comparison table shows why the Open won so many reviews at launch. It is brighter, lighter, faster to charge, and better equipped in the camera department, and it costs less. Samsung fights back with a more mature software ecosystem, better water resistance, and the S Pen, plus a wider range of accessories and a longer track record of foldable reliability. Buyers who spend time outdoors, near water, or drawing on their phone should lean Samsung. Buyers who want the best screens, the best cameras, and the fastest charging should lean OnePlus.

Connectivity, Sensors and Everyday Hardware

Connectivity is complete: 5G on the common bands, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 with high-quality audio codecs, NFC for payments, and a USB-C 3.1 port that supports fast data transfer and video output. The side-mounted fingerprint sensor is fast and reliable, and face unlock works on both screens. The sensor set covers the usual accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and ambient light sensor, plus a hall sensor that detects the fold state. The alert slider, a OnePlus signature, is present on the Open and works as a quick mute switch, which is handy on a phone you use for calls and meetings.

Pros, Cons and Who Should Buy the OnePlus Open

Every review should end with a clear balance sheet, and the Open has a strong one. The strengths are the two displays, the camera system, the charging speed, and the multitasking software. The weaknesses are the missing wireless charging, the modest water resistance, and the lack of a stylus. The OnePlus Open design is the best-looking foldable of its year too, with a slim profile, a clean camera housing, and two attractive finishes, and the OnePlus Open value case is helped by a launch price below its main rival. Readers weighing strengths against trade-offs in an older OnePlus flagship may find the OnePlus 7T Pro Review: Strengths, Trade-Offs and Everyday Use a useful parallel, since it covers the same kind of honest balance between what a phone does well and where it asks you to compromise.

Pros of the OnePlus Open

• Two excellent displays: the 7.82-inch inner panel and the 6.31-inch cover screen are both bright, sharp, and smooth at 120Hz.
• Best-in-class foldable cameras: the 48MP main sensor, 64MP 3x telephoto, and 48MP ultrawide beat every rival foldable of the same year.
• Fast 67W charging: a full charge in about 42 minutes, with the charger included in the box in most regions.
• Open Canvas multitasking: split-screen apps, app pairs, and floating windows make the big screen genuinely productive.
• Light and slim for a foldable: 239 grams and 5.8 mm unfolded, with a cover screen wide enough for normal typing.
• Strong performance: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of fast UFS 4.0 storage in the only configuration sold.

Cons of the OnePlus Open

• No wireless charging: a notable omission at this price, and there is no reverse wireless charging either.
• Only IPX4 splash resistance: fine for rain, but not safe for submersion, unlike the IPX8-rated Samsung rival.
• No stylus support: drawing and handwriting fans need to look at a Samsung foldable instead.
• Some apps do not scale well: a few apps still show stretched layouts on the nearly square inner screen.
• First-generation foldable risk: long-term hinge and screen durability is good so far, but the phone has a shorter track record than Samsung foldables.

Who the OnePlus Open Is For

The Open fits readers, travellers, and multitaskers first. If you read on your phone, work with two apps open, take a lot of photos, or watch video on the move, the big screen and the fast charging will change your day. It also fits anyone who tried a foldable before and gave up because the cover screen was too narrow: the 6.31-inch outer panel removes that complaint entirely. It fits less well for swimmers, stylus users, and wireless-charging devotees, and for buyers who want the longest possible software support window. For those buyers, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 remains the safer pick, even though it costs more and charges more slowly.

The OnePlus Open price in 2026 is the part of the story that has changed most since launch. New units are harder to find as the phone ages, and the street price has fallen well below the original $1,699 in many markets, while used and refurbished units are cheaper still. That makes the OnePlus Open value argument stronger now than it was at launch, as long as you buy from a seller with a warranty and check the software update status. A discounted Open with years of updates left is a better buy than a new mid-range slab phone for anyone who wants a big screen and a great camera.

Long-Term Use After One Year

The OnePlus Open long term use after one year picture is encouraging. Owner reports describe the hinge staying smooth, the crease staying shallow, and the battery holding its capacity well. The screens keep their brightness and colour, and the software updates have fixed the early app continuity bugs. The main wear item is the factory screen protector on the inner panel, which can show marks over time and should be replaced by an authorised service centre rather than peeled off at home. Treated with normal care, the Open ages like a good flagship, not like a fragile experiment.

Frequently Asked Questions About the OnePlus Open

Is the OnePlus Open worth buying in 2026?

For most buyers, yes, at the right price. Is OnePlus Open worth buying in 2026 the right question to ask, and the answer depends on the price you find. At a discount, you get flagship screens, the best foldable cameras of its generation, fast charging, and years of software support left. At full launch price, a newer foldable may be a better buy. Check the battery health, the hinge action, and the update status before buying a used unit, and buy from a seller that offers a warranty.

Does the OnePlus Open have wireless charging?

No, the Open does not support wireless charging or reverse wireless charging. It charges by cable at 67W with SUPERVOOC, reaching a full charge in about 42 minutes. If wireless charging is part of your daily routine, you will need a cable habit instead, or you should consider a rival foldable that supports it.

How good is the OnePlus Open camera compared with a slab flagship?

Very good. The 48MP main camera, 64MP 3x telephoto, and 48MP ultrawide hold up against slab flagships of the same year, and the main sensor is larger than the one in most rival foldables. Daylight and low-light photos are clean and natural, portraits are strong, and the rear-camera selfie trick gives you main-camera quality for self-portraits. The only area where a top slab phone pulls ahead is extreme zoom beyond 10x and the very latest computational photography features.

Is the crease on the OnePlus Open noticeable?

You can see and feel the crease if you look for it, especially on white backgrounds at an angle, but it fades from attention within a day or two of normal use. The OnePlus Open crease is shallow thanks to the waterdrop hinge, which keeps it flatter than on early foldables, and it does not interfere with reading, video, or touch input. Most owners stop noticing it entirely after the first week.

How long will the OnePlus Open receive software updates?

OnePlus promised four years of major Android updates and five years of security patches from the 2023 launch. That should take the phone to Android 17 with security patches into 2028. Updates have arrived steadily so far, including improvements to the camera and multitasking. Buyers in 2026 should confirm the phone is on a recent build, since early software had app continuity issues that later updates fixed.

Final Verdict: Is the OnePlus Open Worth Buying in 2026?

The OnePlus Open is the foldable that made the category make sense for ordinary buyers. The cover screen works like a normal phone, the inner screen works like a small tablet, the cameras are genuinely good, and the charging is fast enough that the battery stops being a worry. The software, led by Open Canvas, is the most practical multitasking setup on any foldable of its generation, and the hardware is lighter and slimmer than the rival it set out to beat. The missing wireless charging, the IPX4 rating, and the lack of a stylus are real trade-offs, but they are narrow ones, and most buyers will not miss them every day.

Your next step is simple. If you are considering a foldable, hold the Open folded and open it, type on the cover screen, and try two apps side by side on the inner screen. Those three minutes will tell you more than any spec sheet can. Check the current price against a newer foldable, confirm the software is up to date, and buy from a seller with a warranty. If the price is right and the trade-offs do not touch your daily habits, the Open remains one of the best foldables you can buy, even three years after its launch.