What you need to know
- YouTuber Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything made a teardown video for the OnePlus Open, which is OnePlus' first foldable.
- OnePlus claimed that the OnePlus Open had a hinge with a "titanium alloy," but only the screws are made of titanium.
- There is actually a carbon-fiber layer underneath the display for added support, though.
OnePlus made a lot of lofty claims about the OnePlus Open, its first foldable phone. It argued that this foldable beats out the rest in a few areas thanks to its "titanium alloy" and "carbon fiber" build. But how much do these so-called "aerospace materials" in the OnePlus Open really matter? Thanks to a teardown from YouTuber Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything, we finally found out.
Nelson first checks out the ultra-thin glass inner display on the OnePlus Open, which is covered by a protective layer of plastic. Removing the protective layer and the display doesn't end well for the smartphone, but it does reveal a carbon-fiber backing, which OnePlus claims makes the Open more sturdy.
Things start to get tricky when Nelson moves to the battery and hinge. The battery is housed in two separate parts, and removing them isn't easy. You need to use isopropyl alcohol and a spudger to pry out the batteries, which OnePlus' own warnings caution against. Considering the battery is one of the few parts of a smartphone guaranteed to wear down over time, this certainly isn't ideal.
Now, onto the phone's hinge. As it turns out, the "titanium alloy" build really just means the screws, Nelson notes. While it's true that the titanium screws in the hinge do make the phone a smidge lighter, it seems to be more of a marketing trick than a real feature. OnePlus gets to say that the Open features titanium materials without having to actually design custom components with the material.
To be fair, the screws are a pretty prominent part of the promotional image that accompanies OnePlus' titanium alloy claim. However, the company's vague wording could make customers believe the OnePlus Open uses more titanium than it actually does. That's especially true given that the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have titanium frames, albeit with an aluminum subframe.
But since the OnePlus Open uses a considerable amount of carbon fiber — it's also found in the hinge structure — it could have just leaned into that for marketing. Instead, it stretched the truth a bit to get the titanium buzzword on people's radar. However, that doesn't stop the device from being one of our favorite foldable phones to launch this year.
The foldable you should buy
Not only does it look and feel spectacular, but the OnePlus Open is an all-around superb foldable phone that manages to beat Samsung at its own game with excellent cameras and a a cheaper price tag.
