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Last year, OnePlus launched the OnePlus Open, the company’s first foldable smartphone. We’ve seen many foldables over the years, but in our review of the phone, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise and quickly became our favorite. However, since then, a lot of foldables have been launched. So the question is, how does the OnePlus Open fare versus newer foldables like Google’s brand new Pixel 9 Pro Fold?
Design
Google has actually made quite a depa-rture in terms of design of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold over its predecessor, the Pixel Fold. The Pixel Fold felt like a giant version of the Pixel phones, but the Pixel 9 Pro Fold seems to add a touch of elegance and sophistication in Google’s design language.
As for the OnePlus Open, there’s really nothing wrong with the phone’s design. It’s a matter of personal preference, but we like the design language that Google is going for. However, what could be a more tangible way of distinguishing both phones would be by its size and weight.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold measures 155.2 x 77.1 x 10.5 mm when folded, and 155.2 x 150.2 x 5.1 mm when unfolded. The OnePlus Open, on the other hand, measures 153.4 x 143.1 x 5.8 mm unfolded and 153.4 x 73.3 x 11.7 mm folded. This makes the phone slightly thicker than Google’s offering.
The OnePlus Open does have a slight advantage at being lighter at 239-245 grams, versus the Pixel 9 Pro Fold which weighs in at 257 grams. Will this be a huge difference in your bag or pocket? Probably not.
Display
In the display department, both the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the OnePlus Open aren’t too different. If you’re looking for a phone with a larger display, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is the better choice. It has an internal foldable display that measures 8-inches with a 2076×2152 resolution and a 1-120Hz refresh rate. Its brightness goes up to 2,700 nits. Its external display comes in at 6.3-inches with a 1080×2424 resolution, a 60-120Hz refresh rate, and peak brightness of 2,700 nits.
The OnePlus Open, on the other hand, has a slightly smaller foldable display that measures 7.82-inches. It has a 2268×2440 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It actually goes brighter with peak brightness reaching 2,800 nits. As for the external display, it’s about the same as Google’s own foldable at 6.31-inches with a 1116×2484 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Its brightness also hits similar levels at 2,800 nits peak.
The difference in brightness is kind of negligible, but the larger display of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold could be better in terms of viewing media and browsing the web. The downside is that this makes the phone a tad heavier and slightly larger in terms of width and height.
Performance
While we do like the OnePlus Open, it does have a slight disadvantage over the Pixel 9 Pro Fold as it is a phone that launched in 2023. This means that the chipset it is using, which is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, is technically a generation behind. We haven’t seen the benchmarks yet for Google’s Tensor G4, so it’s hard to tell if this will put OnePlus at a disadvantage or if somehow the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 can still hold its own in 2024.
Putting chipsets aside, both the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and OnePlus Open come with 16GB of RAM so it should be more than sufficient for multitasking and keeping background apps open. The OnePlus Open does offer storage of up to 1TB versus the Pixel 9 Pro Fold which caps out at 512GB.
Seeing as how phones these days don’t come with support for memory cards, having 1TB of storage might be better if you rely mostly on offline storage instead of cloud storage.
Camera
One of the things we love about Google’s software is that they do a great job at image processing. In the past, we’ve seen how Google has compensated for the lack of hardware with amazing software.
That being said, we don’t think hardware is going to be an issue for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a triple camera setup on the back. This includes a 48MP wide camera with a f/1.7 aperture, a 10.5MP ultrawide with a f/2.2 aperture, and a 10.8MP telephoto with an aperture of f/3.1.
As for the OnePlus Open, the handset features a 48MP f/1.7 wide main shooter, a 64MP f/2.6 telephoto, and a 48MP f/2.2 ultrawide. On paper the OnePlus Open already beats the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. In fact, the camera of the OnePlus Open was one of the things that surprised us last year. OnePlus also has an ongoing partnership with Hasselblad that introduces additional software for color calibration.
Battery
When it comes to battery life, the OnePlus Open might have Google beat. The handset features a 4,805mAh battery with support for 67W charging. This means that it should last longer and charge faster. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold, on the other hand, has a 4,650mAh battery and its charging speeds cap out at 45W.
Also, since the Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a larger display versus the OnePlus Open, it should in theory drain more battery. We’ll have to do our own battery tests to see how it holds up, but we have a feeling the OnePlus Open could be a better choice if you’re looking for a foldable that lasts longer.
Pricing & availability
In terms of pricing, the OnePlus Open could actually be a more attractive option. The handset launched with a price tag of $1,699. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold costs $1,799. However, since the OnePlus Open is an older device, you will be able to find it discounted at various retailers which could save you a few hundred bucks. If you’re not fussed about using year old hardware, the cheaper price could make it more compelling.
One thing to note is that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, being a Google Pixel handset, has longer software support so while you might be paying more, you can probably keep it around for longer.
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