What OnePlus missed by cancelling the Open 2 foldable

When the original OnePlus Open launched back in 2023, it caught a lot of people off guard.

OnePlus had spent years trying to stay competitive in the traditional smartphone market. But it was stuck in the loop of predictable Android phones. The Open was different. It was bold. It was premium. It was the company’s first foldable, and it actually felt like a serious attempt to compete with Samsung and Google.

Reviewers liked it. Users liked it. And for a moment, it looked like OnePlus had finally found a way to stand out again.

Naturally, people expected a sequel, and that’s how product cycles are supposed to work. You launch something interesting, learn from it, and then release a better version a year or two later.

Instead, OnePlus kept delaying the Open 2. Then rumors started piling up that it might be cancelled altogether. And now, in 2026, reports suggest that the device might not happen at all.

One of the biggest problems with cancelling the Open 2 is simple timing.

Foldables used to feel like a gimmick—expensive, fragile, and maybe unnecessary. But over the last few years, they’ve slowly turned into a real category. Samsung has refined its Galaxy Z Fold line, Google’s Pixel foldables are now part of its main number series, and other brands like Honor have also pushed out surprisingly polished hardware.

The idea of a phone that unfolds into a small tablet doesn’t sound weird anymore. In fact, OnePlus was doing it right from the first generation. Unlike the tall aspect ratio of Galaxy Z Fold devices, the OnePlus Open has a noticeably wider screen that makes it feel more like a standard smartphone.

This was exactly the moment when OnePlus could have stepped in with a strong second-generation device and made another dent in the market.

We knew the original OnePlus as a brand that shipped flagship specs without flagship prices. It built its entire fanbase around that idea. However, the brand slowly started to lose that identity when it began launching true flagships with flagship-level pricing.

And it’s not that OnePlus smartphones are bad. They’re exactly what you’d expect from a modern flagship. But if users have to pay flagship prices, many tend to prefer legacy brands like Samsung.

The Open, however, was one of the few recent products that had the potential to make OnePlus feel special again. Cancelling its sequel sends the opposite message.

The frustrating part is that the OnePlus Open 2 actually sounded promising.

According to leaks and reports, the device was expected to fix many of the original model’s shortcomings:

• A thinner and lighter design
• Better cameras with improved Hasselblad tuning
• A newer flagship Qualcomm processor
• Wireless charging
• Stronger water resistance
• Larger, brighter displays

So it looked like OnePlus was preparing a genuinely competitive foldable, not just a minor refresh.

Even if half of these rumors were true, the Open 2 could have been one of the more interesting foldables of 2026. Now, all that work, research, and anticipation amounts to nothing.

From the outside, cancelling a phone might seem like a practical business decision. But from a customer’s perspective, it’s very different.

People who bought the original OnePlus Open did so assuming it was the start of a long-term product line. They expected better software support, new accessories, and eventually a worthy upgrade path.

Now those buyers are left with no choice but to switch to another brand—willingly or not. This doesn’t just hurt foldable users; it hurts the brand as a whole. People who invest in foldables are often the same users willing to invest in ecosystem products. So, OnePlus is not only losing customers in the foldable side but also its ecosystem products.

The biggest beneficiaries of OnePlus’s cancellation of its foldable ambitions are Samsung and Google.

Without the Open 2 in the picture, the foldable market in many regions essentially goes back to being a two-horse race. Samsung continues to dominate by default. Google positions the Pixel Fold as the main alternative.

OnePlus could have offered something different—maybe cheaper, maybe better designed, maybe just more interesting. Instead, it chose not to play at all.

To be fair, OnePlus likely has its reasons.

Component prices have gone up. The smartphone market isn’t as healthy as it once was. Foldables are expensive to develop and risky to manufacture. Profit margins are thin.

From a spreadsheet perspective, cancelling the Open 2 might make perfect sense. But tech history is full of examples where playing it safe led to long-term irrelevance. Remember BlackBerry?

The companies people remember are usually the ones willing to take risks. So it shouldn’t matter even when the numbers don’t look great on paper.

In the end, the OnePlus Open 2 isn’t just a cancelled gadget. It’s a missed opportunity for OnePlus to rebuild a strong brand identity instead of remaining just another smartphone company.

All we can do now is criticize the decision and hope OnePlus either reverses course or launches the Open 2 late—rather than never.

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