OnePlus begins teasing its first foldable phone with images of a hinge
Rumors abouta foldable phone from OnePlusin a market dominated by theSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4have been doing the rounds for a while now. All the way back in 2020, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau was telling reporters that the companydidn’t plan to make a foldable phoneanytime soon. Two years is a lot of time for technology to mature (and plans to change), and now Lau’s sharing some images of what sure appears to be a folding phone’s intricate hinge assembly — perhaps hinting that work on a OnePlus foldable could be well underway.
Earlier this month, Xiaomi announced theMix Fold 2and Lenovo revealed the clamshell-styleMoto Razr 2022. Although both phones are available only in China for now, they express those brands’ clear interest in a piece of the foldable smartphone pie. The BBK Group tried hopping on the bandwagon with the Oppo Find N and theVivo X Fold, but OnePlus stayed out of the picture — until maybe now.
Lau’s tweet includesa couple of images of a complex hinge(viaAndroidCentral) which sure feel like they belong to a foldable smartphone. Judging by the length of the hinge, OnePlus could be working on a taller booklet-style foldable phone, instead of a clamshell design like the Moto Razr or Z Flip 4. A close-up shot of the hinge reveals a metallic construction, two axes of rotation, several mounting posts, holes for fasteners, and six tiny springs to tension the assembly.
Although Lau’s tweet doesn’t hint at a name (to say nothing of what kind of hardware specs we might look forward to) for the phone, the images could be seen as supporting a leak from April which claimed the inaugural OnePlus foldable wouldresemble the Oppo Find N. That hardly sounded surprising, since both BBK-owned companies essentially share an R&D department, hardware, and some software elements. Reports have suggested OnePlus might unveil its folding phone to the world in 2023.
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