OnePlus begins teasing its first foldable phone with images of a hinge

A rebadged Oppo Find N could be the first OnePlus foldable phone

Rumors about a foldable phone from OnePlus in a market dominated by the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 have been doing the rounds for a while now. All the way back in 2020, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau was telling reporters that the company didn’t plan to make a foldable phone anytime 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 the Mix Fold 2 and Lenovo revealed the clamshell-style Moto 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 the Vivo X Fold, but OnePlus stayed out of the picture — until maybe now.

Lau’s tweet includes a couple of images of a complex hinge (via AndroidCentral) 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 would resemble 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.