This was supposed to be the best foldable of 2025, so why doesn't it exist?

Phone Arena

a day ago

I've been a fan of this phone brand ever since its inception, which coincided with the start of my employment here at PhoneArena. Ever since then, through the ups and downs, great releases, and disappointing launches, I've always enjoyed using devices made by this specific brand. It probably hasn't grown to be the household name its founders intended, but it is definitely one of the more recognizable Android makers around that still provide steady competition to Samsung, Google, and Apple. And it simply refuses to make the phone that would easily sweep the competition in the US. The brand is OnePlus, and the dream phone in question is none other than the OnePlus Open 2, which doesn't exist, but I'd have been on cloud nine if it did. At the time of its launch, the first OnePlus Open was one of the better foldable phones available in the US, a very decent and appealing alternative to the Galaxy Z Fold and the Pixel Fold. Looking back at it in hindsight from mid-2025, it is a bit rough around the edges and had a lot of potential for steady improvements but was still among the best phones you could get in late 2023, either foldables or not.
The blessing and the curse of the OnePlus Open is that it wasn't a terribly original phone, so to speak. The phone used the design blueprint of parent company Oppo's Find N3 foldable and combined superb hardware with OnePlus' pretty decent OxygenOS, which is still among the cleaner custom Android skins around.
The OnePlus Open had a decent camera, a small display crease, and lots of other redeeming qualities, with the only "downside" being its fairly high price (which was still more affordable than the Galaxy or the first Pixel Fold ).
Overall, a successful translation of an excellent Oppo phone to a superb OnePlus flagship, which at the time felt like a formula that would be easily perfected in the future. I mean, the only thing OnePlus had to do was get Oppo's next foldable, rebadge it, throw in its own interface, and call it a day.
However, the hopes of getting a successor to the OnePlus Open , likely styled after the exceptional Oppo Find N5, were sadly crushed with the announcement that OnePlus won't be releasing a foldable phone in 2025.
Ah, what woe! With the risk of sounding melodramatic, I still remember the day when I read that news, and ever since, I've had the blues when I think of OnePlus, as the OnePlus Open 2 was probably my most anticipated device of the year, the one that could have easily stolen the spotlight in 2025.
It would have been an outstanding phone: below 9 mm in thickness when folded, with super-bright OLED displays, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, a large 6,000 mAh silicon-carbon battery, and a great camera, as well as all the other exceptional bits and pieces that make the Oppo Find N5 such an impressive device of its own.
The OnePlus Open 2 would have been the perfect foldable phone (Image by PhoneArena)
Well, sure, in all but name the Oppo Find N5 is essentially what the OnePlus Open 2 should have been.
However, while it went global, the phone isn't available in some key markets like the USA, and it might not support all the bands of your carrier, so even if you go out of your way to import the device, there's always the risk that it won't work properly, as a OnePlus phone would. This makes it a curiosity that only phone reviewers, YouTubers, and die-hard foldable or Oppo fans would want to use, less so the average person who's browsing the phone section at Walmart, T-Mobile, or Best Buy.
There are also some small but important differences in the interface. Despite the most significant difference between OxygenOS and ColorOS being the name itself, the interface that OnePlus uses has an extra sprinkle of attention to detail. Color OS, while mostly similar, just feels off. Another phone that could have helped OnePlus stay in the conversation more is a hypothetical OnePlus 13 Ultra, and that's yet another device that doesn't exist.
The OnePlus 13 is mostly a slightly downgraded version of the Oppo Find X8 Pro, lacking the nice periscope camera and the quick camera button, for example. Well, the China-only Oppo Find X8 Ultra, which I really wanted to use as a daily driver, would have served as a very impressive foundation for a hypothetical OnePlus 13 Ultra, a phone that could have easily intermingled with all the top flagships in the US and potentially come out on top.
Sadly, like the OnePlus Open 2 , it seems OnePlus is slowly getting pushed out of the premium segment. Not from an outside factor or a rival, but from within, from Oppo's market strategies themselves.
Due to the geopolitical situation, it seems that Oppo is wary of spending too many resources on the US market, and while the global versions of all its phones and OnePlus itself are still mostly good to go in the US, this year's toning down of the flagship and high-end effort is likely a sign of the things to come. Secure your connection now at a bargain price!
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