OnePlus CEO, Pete Lau doesn’t think the tech inside a foldable phone is good enough yet.
In speaking with The Verge (via a translator, since Lau doesn’t really speak English), during CES last week, Lau noted that he doesn’t think foldables are quite ready yet. Reiterating that it is still very early in that stage of things.
It’s something that we, and many other publications have also said. But Lau didn’t say that they weren’t working on one. Just that OnePlus won’t be releasing one til it is ready. And that likely won’t be in 2020.
OnePlus has looked into foldables, but not pursued them yet
Lau did say in the interview that OnePlus has looked into foldables, and experimented a bit. But it’s one thing that they have not yet pursued.
He went on to say that it’s “because, in looking into the application of what’s currently available for foldable screen technology, we haven’t found that the significant advantage or value that’s brought that isn’t outweight by the shortcomings or the disadvantages of the current state of the technology.” Basically saying that there are too many disadvantages and they outweigh the advantages for foldables right now. But that will likely change in a few years.
When asked about what needs to change about the technology to make it more viable, Lau said that the current devices on the market are very large, and not very clean. Also iterating that they don’t have a crisp fold, resulting in screen creasing and other issues. Lau also noted that “this isn’t something that I can accept in products that are built.”
According to Lau, OnePlus will only build a foldable when the technology gets to the level where the folds can be really crisp and not impact the screen.
Lau didn’t rule out the possibility of a $1,000 OnePlus smartphone
In recent years, we’ve seen more and more smartphones cross that $1,000 mark, with some shooting right past it. Look at the Galaxy Fold that’s $1980, or the Motorola Razr that is $1500. The Verge also asked Lau about whether we would see a OnePlus smartphone cross that mark. He did not rule it out, but also did not say that it would happen.
With OnePlus hiking the price of its smartphones pretty much every time a new one gets announced, and the latest OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition coming in at $899, it won’t be long before it does hit $1,000.