This is my real issue with the OnePlus Open 2 delay

Heading into 2025, the OnePlus Open 2 was one of my most anticipated new phones. The first OnePlus Open was a massive hit, and rumors of its successor painted a promising picture. If OnePlus’s first folding phone was so good, imagine what the company could do with its sequel.

Well, it looks like we’ll be waiting a while longer to find out. On February 13, OnePlus confirmed it won’t release a new foldable in 2025, saying it’s “carefully considered the timing” and “next steps in foldable devices.” In doing so, the company decided not to launch the Open 2 this year.

As a fan of the first OnePlus Open, this is obviously disappointing. But it’s especially disconcerting considering what the OnePlus Open 2 could have been and the large hole it’s likely to leave in the US foldable market.

The OnePlus Open launched in October 2023 to rave reviews. Android Authority gave the phone a 4/5 and a Recommended award in our OnePlus Open review, saying it had “the best hardware on a foldable” and was a “gateway to book-style foldable phones.”

I didn’t get my hands on the phone until last August, and even almost a year after its release, the Open immediately stood out to me as a phone I wanted to keep using — even over the newer Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. Why? There are a few reasons.

Among all the foldable phones I’ve used, the OnePlus Open’s hardware is my favorite. The cover screen aspect ratio is perfect, and it feels like a “normal” phone. The hinge is excellent, the inner display looks fantastic, and I adore the leather backside on the black and red colors. I also think the giant camera bump on the back is perfect. It gives the phone a sense of character, and it’s positioned perfectly to rest on my index finger when I hold the Open.

But it’s not just the hardware that OnePlus got right. Virtually everything about the OnePlus Open works for me. The cameras? Great. Battery life? Reliable. The price? It’s still one of the most competitive for a foldable in the US. The OnePlus Open had flaws, but it set such an incredible precedent for OnePlus foldables that anticipation for the Open 2 started almost immediately.

As it turns out, that anticipation was well-deserved. Similar to how the OnePlus Open was the US version of the Oppo Find N3, we were expecting the OnePlus Open 2 to be the US version of the Oppo Find N5. That was exciting because the Find N5 looks phenomenal.

We recently went hands-on with the Oppo Find N5, and, simply put, it’s stunning. The Find N5 is officially the thinnest book-style foldable phone ever. Put side-by-side with the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Honor Magic V3, it’s almost unbelievable how thin it is. You can see a comparison in the picture below. The Find N5 (in the middle) makes the Pixel 9 Pro Fold (on the right) look like a chonker.

Oppo did an incredible job with the display crease, too, as it’s the least noticeable one I’ve seen on a foldable to date. Combine that with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and fast 50W wired charging, and there’s a lot to look forward to. Presumably, all of this would have come to the OnePlus Open 2, but with the 2025 release plans squashed, that’s no longer on the table.

If the Find N5 had turned out to be a minor spec bump, missing out on the Open 2 would have stung a bit less. But from where I’m sitting, the Find N5 could be one of 2025’s most interesting foldables. If that’s the case, the absence of the OnePlus Open 2 will be all that more difficult to grapple with.

If you live in a market where the Oppo Find N5 will be released, none of this really matters to you. But for those of us in the US, it’s a bombshell. The US foldable market isn’t dead, but its 2025 forecast looks grim.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 will almost certainly be released this summer, but early rumors paint a mixed picture. The cover and inner displays are rumored to get bigger, and the phone should be thinner, too. Great! However, in the process, Samsung may also remove the digitizer currently found in the Fold 6, meaning the Fold 7 may lose S Pen compatibility. There’s also not much hope for a redesign, considering how Samsung started the year with the Galaxy S25 series.

Google is the other big player in US foldables, and in 2025, we should see the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. We haven’t heard much about this one yet, but I expect a modest showing from Google this year. The multi-generational leap between the first Pixel Fold and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold was astounding and impressive work on Google’s part. But now that the company has such a strong foundation to work from, it doesn’t make sense for it to go all-out two years in a row.

And … that’s it. With OnePlus delaying the Open 2, Samsung and Google will be the only two serious choices for book-style folding phones in the US this year. The Z Fold 7 and Pixel 10 Pro Fold will almost certainly be great, but having that third choice from OnePlus in 2023 and 2024 added much-needed variety and competition. The original OnePlus Open is still available for purchase, and OnePlus says it’ll continue to support the phone, but it’ll also be two years old this August. As good as it remains, a successor is overdue.

Looking ahead, I’m also worried about what the future holds for OnePlus foldables in 2026 and beyond. OnePlus says this “is not a step back,” suggesting the company isn’t bowing out of foldables for good. I hope that’s true because, without an Open 2 this year, the US foldable landscape for 2025 is going to be a lot less exciting than it could have been.