OnePlus Open 2: OnePlus cites poor sales in new clarification about future foldable releases
OnePlus has shed new light on why it decided against releasing a new foldable to complement Oppo's Find N5. To recap, the company stated publicly in February that it would be recalibrating its foldable strategy with Oppo 'taking the lead in the foldable segment'. Ultimately, OnePlus' explanation prompted TechRadar to dig deeper in a recent sponsored visit to the company's Guangdong headquarters.
According to the website, Rudolf Xu, a Senior Product Marketing Manager, elaborated that the foldable market is not growing as quickly as OnePlus expected. Citing recent CounterPoint research figures, Xu stated that foldable smartphone sales experienced a 2.9% uplift over 2023 figures. In part, that increase could be attributed to the OnePlus Open. However, Counterpoint research suggests that weak sales of Samsung foldables like the Galaxy Z Flip6 and Galaxy Z Fold6 (curr. $1,249 on Amazon) played a greater role in that regard in limiting year-on-year increases.
Seemingly, OnePlus may be waiting for foldables to reach mainstream status before returning with a successor to the OnePlus Open. Xu adds that OnePlus continues to search for ways to reduce the footprint of a foldable while minimising crease visibility and the impact any reduction in size or thickness has on a flagship experience. In other words, there is no guarantee that a OnePlus Open 2 will arrive when Oppo decides to refresh its Find N series. The full quote from Rudolf Xu, published by TechRadar, is as follows:
In the foldable industry, the common challenge for every smartphone maker is how to make the phone slimmer, lighter, and the crease less visible, while also, at the same time, not sacrificing other key specs when you are trying to solve those challenges.
At OnePlus, we want to bring the best possible experience. If you look back at the OnePlus Open, even up until today, it still has very competitive specs, honestly. It's more about a timing situation. We are thinking about how we want to solve those challenges in a better way. That's why we decided not to launch a foldable this year.
There's also a figure I can share. If you check the latest Counterpoint research, foldable shipments increased by 2.9% year-over-year in 2024, which was actually lower than expected. The foldable market is increasing, for sure, but it will still take time for foldables to become mainstream and to really, let's say, cross the chasm and become a product for the majority.
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