OnePlus’ CEO, Pete Lau, has confirmed that the company is not planning to release a foldable smartphone, at least not anytime soon. He confirmed that while he was speaking at the European Design Institute in Milan, according to Repubblica, an Italian publication.
Mr. Lau stated that foldable devices “don’t do anything notably different”, though he did admit that the company has been considering releasing a foldable smartphone for over a year. In that time, the company realized that foldable smartphones are definitely not worth it at the moment, as they’re still not where they’re supposed to be. So, all in all, the company’s CEO did leave the door open for foldable phones down the line, but don’t expect to see one anytime soon.
Pete Lau also said that OnePlus is focused on developing a smart TV, while adding that the company’s TV, or a “smart display”, as he referred to it, will act as a hub for other smart devices. OnePlus seems to be focused on building an ecosystem of products at the moment, so who knows what else we may see from the company in the coming years.
OnePlus also does not plan to make a car, not at all, confirmed its CEO. Mr. Lau said that building a car would be extremely complicated, and that it is completely different from creating something like a smartphone or smart TV. Mr. Lau also talked about the era of Internet of Things, stating that in ten years, “everything will be connected”, but he also added that it’s impossible for one company to be a manufacturer of all those IoT devices. This does hint that the company is working on more products, though.
On top of everything, OnePlus’ CEO also mentioned 5G, and a “super virtual assistant” that will assist people in ways that are difficult to imagine these days, though he mentioned 2025 when talking about it, as 5G-related tech will not fully develop anytime soon. That is an interesting and vague remark, and it doesn’t exactly confirm that OnePlus is working on a virtual assistant, but who knows.
Pete Lau did not really talk about the company’s upcoming flagship, the OnePlus 7, but that device is expected to arrive soon. A tipster hinted that it will be arriving on May 14, while Carl Pei, OnePlus’ co-founder, promised some interesting news for tomorrow (Wednesday), as he’ll probably announce the OnePlus 7’s press conference.
If rumors and leaks are accurate, OnePlus is actually planning to release more than one OnePlus 7 handset this time around. The OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7 Pro, and OnePlus 7 Pro 5G are allegedly in the works. It is still not clear what will the difference between the first two be, but model numbers for all three devices did surface.
The OnePlus 7 could be a bit smaller than the OnePlus 7 Pro, and it could also ship with a flat display. The OnePlus 7 Pro did surface a couple of days ago, and it featured a 6.67-inch fullHD+ curved display, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The device’s spec list suggested that the Snapdragon 855 is also included in the package, and the same can be said for Android 9 Pie. It remains to be seen how accurate are these specifications, of course, but it sure seems like we will see more than one model this time around. The OnePlus 7 Pro 5G is expected to be the same as the OnePlus 7 Pro, but it will support 5G connectivity and be more expensive because of it.