FYI: OnePlus still appears to be working on a foldable phone.
Updated: It turns out this 'foldable' tease was just an attempt to promote a 50% off deal for the OnePlus 9. OnePlus got our attention, but this didn't feel like a great way to do it.
OnePlus has just posted a suspiciously-timed teaser that suggests it's working on a foldable phone. Or at least a foldable dual-screen phone. And it sounds like we will see more later today.
An Instagram post and tweet made by OnePlus USA shows of a partly folded phone, and the date August 11. This could just be a concept phone rather than a real product, like the OnePlus Concept One from last year, but of course we hope that it's a surprise unveiling of a brand new kind of OnePlus phone. And it's coming the same day as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 reveal.
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From the looks of the teaser, OnePlus' foldable doesn't use a flexible display, but instead two separate screens working in tandem. We've seen this approach before from the Microsoft Surface Duo, or the optional dual-screen mod for the LG G8X ThinQ. It has an advantage over flexible displays since they can be made of tougher materials, but it could result in a bulkier design.
8.11 10am EThttps://t.co/mmPi4jlrhx pic.twitter.com/U6lPdrFnjfAugust 10, 2021
It'll be hard to steal Samsung's thunder today considering it's rumored to be revealing not one but two foldable phones, with the Galaxy Z Flip 3 expected to join the Fold 3. Plus, Samsung is rumored to unveil the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Buds 2.
However, those of us who are tired of seeing Samsung effortlessly hold the title of the best foldable phone on the market will be glad to see OnePlus, one of the company's closest rivals in the Android space, get in on the action.
OnePlus is pretty opportunistic arranging its announcement for the same day that Samsung holds its Galaxy Unpacked event. A solution we'd recommend to this problem is to have our Galaxy Unpacked liveblog open in one tab, and OnePlus' social media open in another. This way you won't miss out on any of the key details from either company's announcements.
