OnePlus Co-Founder Pete Lau Shares Images Of Likely OnePlus Foldable Smartphone

Seems like Chinese handset makers are trying to create a mark in the foldable smartphones category, a space which is currently being dominated by Samsung.

Pete Lau, the company co-founder and CEO, teased a few pictures of the purported foldable device from OnePlus on Twitter. Image courtesy: Pete Lau's Twitter account

In what seems like Chinese handset makers are trying to create a mark in the foldable smartphones category, a space which is currently being dominated by Samsung, handset maker OnePlus has teased its upcoming foldable smartphone. Pete Lau, the company co-founder and CEO, teased a few pictures of the purported foldable device from OnePlus on Twitter where Lau asked his followers: “What do you think this is? 😉”.

According to the cryptic images shared on Twitter, it looks like Lau has shared images of the hinge mechanism of the purported OnePlus foldable phone. It should be noted that the OnePlus co-founder did not reveal further details about the moniker or design of the upcoming foldable smartphone. If rumours are to be believed, the OnePlus foldable device would be similar to Oppo’s foldable Find N smartphone.

Also, rumours suggest that even though the foldable would be showcased this year, it would be launched only in 2023 as OnePlus has already launched the OnePlus 10T and OnePlus 10 Pro already this year. Meanwhile, earlier this year, Gary Chen, the OnePlus executive who oversees the development of OxygenOS was quoted as saying by a publication that OnePlus has been in touch with Google to develop its first foldable smartphone.

Handset maker Xiaomi last week on Friday unveiled its new flagship foldable smartphone, the Xiaomi MIX Fold 2 at an event in Mainland China. The Xiaomi MIX Fold 2 is an ultra-slim foldable smartphone which measures 5.4mm unfolded. It comes with the top-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 mobile platform which also powers the recently launched Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.

The Xiaomi MIX Fold 2 comes in two colours: Black and Gold in three storage variants. The 12GB+256GB is priced at RMB 8,999 (or roughly Rs 106390), 12GB+512GB model is priced at RMB 9,999 (or roughly Rs 118,220) and 12GB+1TB variant is priced at RMB 11,699 (or roughly Rs 138,320).

At its annual Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung on August 10 unveiled its next-generation of foldable smartphones: Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 4. Both the devices come with upgraded specs and features.

The Galaxy Z Flip 4 has been launched for of $1,000 (or roughly Rs 79,200), and the Galaxy Z Fold 4 has been launched at a price of $1,800 (or roughly Rs 1,42,700). Both the device go on pre-orders starting today and pre-order buyers would get benefits such as free memory spec upgrade and they would get benefits of up to Rs 5,000 after delivery of the devices exclusively in India.