- OnePlus
OnePlus Open
Our top pickThe first OnePlus foldable has certainly made a splash. It one-ups the market leader in just about every conceivable way - bigger and better displays, slimmer and lighter chassis, more RAM, and boosted camera specs.
Pros- Larger, brighter displays
- Better camera specifications
- 67W fast charging
- Lower MSRP
Cons- Only IPX4 rated
- Samsung/ Pocket-lint
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5
Reliable choiceSamsung has more experience with foldable phones than any other brand, and while its fifth-generation foldable didn't reinvent the wheel, it added refinement to one of the best out there. It's still a great option.
Pros- More refined software
- IPX8 water resistance
- S Pen support
- Same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
Cons- Higher MSRP
Samsung has had the foldable phone market to itself for the last few years, especially in Western countries, but that changed in 2023, and some big names have come along to disrupt things. Of course, we saw the Pixel Fold earlier this year, but now there's another heavy hitter on the scene, the OnePlus Open.
On first impressions, it looks like it's set to pose an even greater challenge to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5's market dominance. We were excited to find out exactly how the Open stacks up, so we've thoroughly examined the spec sheets to see how these foldables compare.
Price, specs and availability
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 was announced on July 26 2023, and became available at retail on August 11. It starts at $1799 in the US and £1749 in the UK.
The OnePlus Open was revealed on October 19 2023, and is available to pre-order now, starting at $1699 in the States and £1599 in Blighty. General sale opens up on October 26 2023.
The pricing is an aggressive move from OnePlus, undercutting the Z Fold 5 pricing by a cool $100. Also, the OnePlus Open comes with 512GB of storage, compared to the base spec Z Fold 5's 256GB and 16GB of RAM, as opposed to 12GB. Of course, that's only part of the story, so let's look at the rest of the specs.
OnePlus Open Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Brand OnePlus Samsung SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Display 6.2-inch AMOLED, 2484 x 1116, 120Hz (cover) / 7.82-inch AMOLED, 2440 x 2268, 120Hz (main) 6.2-inch AMOLED, 2316 x 904, 120Hz (cover) / 7.6-inch AMOLED, 2176 x 1812, 120Hz (main) RAM 16GB 12GB Storage 512GB 256GB Battery 4805 mAh / 67W fast charging 4400mAh / 25W fast charging, 15W wireless charging Operating System OxygenOS 13.2 based on Android 13 Android 13, One UI Front camera 32MP f/2.4 (cover), 20MP f/2.2 (main) 10MP f/2.2 (cover), 4MP f/1.8 UPC (under-display) Rear camera 48MP f/1.7 main, 64MP f/2.6 3x telephoto, 48MP f/2.2. ultrawide 50MP f/1.8 main, 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, 10MP f/2.4 telephoto Dimensions 153.4 x 73.3 x 11.7mm (folded) / 153.4 x 143.1 x 5.8mm (unfolded) 245g 154.94 x 67.06 x 13.46mm (folded) / 154.94 x 129.79 x 6.10mm (unfolded), 253g IP Rating IPX4 IPX8 Stylus No S Pen
Design and displays
Both phones have a 6.2-inch outer display, but the Z Fold 5 display is much narrower, as we've become accustomed to with Galaxy Z Fold phones over the years. This means that the OnePlus cover screen will feel much more like a traditional smartphone display. It has a higher resolution but not by much, and that's probably mostly down to the additional width. Both phones offer an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz on their outer screens, but the OnePlus Open can go all the way down to 10Hz, whereas the Samsung ranges from 48-120Hz.
On the inside, it's a similar story. The OnePlus Open has a slightly larger display and higher resolution; again, it's only marginal, and probably due to the size difference. Both offer 1-120Hz refresh rates on the folding screen, but the OnePlus has the brighter panel, offering 2400 nits at peak compared to 1750 on the Z Fold 5.
The OnePlus Open is slightly larger than the Z Fold, owing to its extra width, but it's also slimmer and lighter, so it's likely to feel better in your pocket. It's available in two finishes: a black version with a vegan leather rear panel and a green version (Emerald Dusk) with a glass back. The glass-backed version is slimmer than the vegan leather option, but it's also heavier, though we're talking a few grams, so it's nothing to be too concerned about.
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is available with a wider range of colour options, including Icy Blue, Phantom Black, Cream, Blue and Grey. All options have a glass back with a matte finish.
Both phones have flat cover displays and iPhone-esque metal bumpers around the edges. The OnePlus Open brings back the brand's iconic alert slider, which OnePlus fans are sure to be excited about.
The OnePlus Open has a massive circular camera array on its rear, which reminds us of the Oppo Find X6 Pro or Xiaomi 13 Ultra and hints at its photographic capabilities - a notion that's reinforced by the prominent Hasselblad logo. The Samsung cameras are more traditional and match the orientation of its S23-series phones, stacked like a traffic light in the corner of the rear panel.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 carries an IPX8 rating for water resistance, whereas the Open has an IPX4 rating. This means that both phones can handle water splashes, but only the Samsung will survive full submersion. Neither carry a dust resistance rating, so you won't want to drop them while you're sunning yourself at the beach.
Performance and features
Both phones run on Qualcomm's flagship smartphone SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, so they'll perform very similarly when it comes to running graphically intensive games. The OnePlus Open has 16GB of RAM, compared to 12GB on the Z Fold 5, so it'll handle intensive multitasking a bit better and is likely to have the edge in some workloads.
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is available with either 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage, whereas the OnePlus Open is only sold with 512GB storage. Considering it carries a lower MSRP than Samsung's 256GB base model, that makes it a pretty great deal.
Both phones run custom software based on Android 13, and both have multitasking enhancements designed to make the most of the larger interior display. This is Samsung's fifth generation of tablet-style foldable, so it has had plenty of time to tweak and refine its software; for this reason, we'd expect a smoother experience with fewer bugs on the Z Fold 5.
That said, OnePlus' OxygenOS 13.2 offers plenty of novel and helpful features that have the potential for even more multitasking flexibility. Before we say how well it works, we'll need to conduct our own testing, but there's certainly great potential here.
If you like to use a stylus, it's worth noting that the Z Fold 5 can be used with an S Pen, but stylus support for the OnePlus Open has not been mentioned. The S Pen Fold Edition is sold separately for $55.
Cameras
Both of these phones have a lot of cameras: three on the rear, a selfie snapper on the front and a selfie camera on the inner screen. The specs of each camera system differ quite significantly, though.
Starting on the rear, the OnePlus Open offers a 48MP 24mm equivalent main camera, a 64MP 70mm (3x) telephoto and a 48MP 14mm ultrawide. Comparatively, the Z Fold 5 offers a 50MP 23mm main, 12MP 12mm ultrawide and 10MP 3x telephoto.
Clearly, the OnePlus Open boasts more megapixels across the board, but it also has another trick up its sleeve. The main sensor features Sony's Pixel Stacked technology, similar to what we saw with the Sony Xperia 1 V. Essentially, what that means is that you get the light-gathering capabilities of a larger sensor squeezed into a smaller footprint. When it comes to low-light photography, the OnePlus Open should have a clear advantage with its main sensor.
For selfies, the Open offers a 20MP 20mm punch-hole camera in the corner of its folding display and a 32MP 22mm camera on its cover screen. The Z Fold 5 has a 10MP punch-hole camera on the outside and a 4MP under-display camera on the inside. The benefit of this is that you get an uninterrupted viewing experience, but the downside is that the quality is awful.
Again, OnePlus has a massive advantage in terms of resolution, and we're certain its inner selfie camera will outperform the under-panel camera. But, as we've learned many times over, resolution isn't everything. Image processing plays a huge part in mobile photography, and we'll need to test further before we can crown a definitive victor. On paper, at least, it seems like the OnePlus Open could have one of the most impressive camera systems on a foldable to date.
Conclusion
The OnePlus Open bests the Galaxy Z Fold 5 in just about every area. It has larger and brighter displays; it's lighter and slimmer; it has more RAM, and the cameras have better specs across the board. Crucially, it also retails for a lower price, and we think that makes it the more appealing option.
That said, Samsung has been in the folding phone business for longer than anyone else, and that means you're likely to have a better software experience and possibly better reliability in general. It'll also work seamlessly with Samsung's other products, so it's the way to go if you're a die-hard Samsung fan.
Whichever option you choose, you're getting one of the best folding phones available today, so really, it's hard to go wrong.