Foldable phones are back in a big way, and OnePlus could be the latest brand to jump on that bandwagon. Given how exciting the competition gets every year, can we really blame it? In 2020, when OnePlus CEO Pete Lau was asked if the company was looking at making foldable phones, he denied it. However, earlier this year, OnePlus executive Gary Chen hinted that the company was working with Google to develop its first foldable device.
Lau also oversaw the development of Oppo Find N and is already familiar with the inner workings of a foldable phone.
Recently, Lau shared a tweet with photos of something resembling a hinge.
The global foldable smartphone market will grow 73 percent this year from nine million units last year to 16 million units, according to Counterpoint Research’s latest Foldable Smartphone Forecast. Any smartphone giant would be a fool to miss out on a huge market like that.
From what it seems, the likes of Xiaomi and OnePlus’ sister brands Oppo and Vivo might limit themselves to China — which is still a huge market for any smartphone maker — and the only global player in the sector is Samsung right now, dominating a significant margin.
Counterpoint also noted that during the first half of 2022, Samsung enjoyed a dominant market share of foldable phones, accounting for 62 percent of the market according to its Foldable Smartphone Tracker, June 2022. Huawei and Oppo came in a distant second and third at 16 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
What could this mean for OnePlus? Is this the brand that will bridge that gap? When OnePlus launched the OnePlus One, it gave tough competition to Samsung smartphones. It was a time when people were tired of settling for the same-old we-will-take-what-you-give phones.
OnePlus built a community and set a benchmark for smartphone makers with its “flagship-killer abilities”. The phone did not just “kill” on paper, but it put its money where its mouth was with a bigger screen, a bigger battery, more RAM and a clean user interface when most phones would be filled with bloatware.
Even today, when OnePlus has rerouted from its community-building, the loyalty and the respect that the brand has in the community still holds. Why? Because it does not take its users for granted and is constantly working to give them something new, whether it is an improved camera system, faster-charging speeds, or recognising user behaviour, OnePlus has always come through.
New folding devices coming out every year from different brands gives OnePlus the advantage of skipping a couple of steps and avoid making mistakes that the others made.
Q3 2021 saw OnePlus register its highest ever shipments in India, with Nord series cumulative shipments crossing 3 million units, according to Counterpoint Research. It also mentioned that OnePlus led the premium market (>Rs 30,000) with a 34 percent share in Q2.
So, OnePlus definitely has both potential and a market it can cater to. The real question is, would we really see a foldable from the “flagship killer” maker in 2023 or is Lau just taking us for a ride?
