OnePlus is vying for that Samsung Unpacked spotlight with a cheeky foldable teaser (or not)
UPDATE: Well, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 5G are finally (officially) out of the bag, and so is the worst trolling attempt in the history of mobile tech trolling attempts. No, OnePlus is not ready to unveil its first-ever foldable smartphone (obviously) or even a copycat of LG's failed Dual Screen cases, as the company's teaser appeared to suggest.
Instead, all that we're getting today is a reminder of a decent T-Mobile deal on the OnePlus 9 5G. Yes, really. There's nothing new here... or remotely exciting, although if you're a new or existing Magenta customer looking to activate a new line of service on an "eligible" plan, you might as well take advantage of the "Un-carrier's" 50 percent discount on one of the best (non-foldable) phones out there. Our original story follows below.
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Out of nowhere, the fast-growing China-based smartphone vendor seems to be teasing a foldable device of its own, and believe it or not, this is apparently set for an August 11 announcement at 10am ET as well.
That's precisely when Samsung will kick off the (once) highly anticipated and (recently) oft-spoiled launch of the company's latest high-end foldable smartphones, and if you think for a second that could be a simple coincidence, then you're probably not familiar with OnePlus's unique brand of marketing.
That being said, it's worth remembering that the unorthodox company's head honchos repeatedly denied their interest in entering the foldable market in the near future since the first-gen Galaxy Fold made its formal debut around two and a half years ago.
The most recent such denial came from CEO Pete Lau at the very end of 2020, and while the OnePlus skipper obviously didn't close the door on foldables for good, we're pretty sure nothing radical has changed for these visionary but still deeply flawed designs in this relatively short period of time.
Perhaps more importantly, there's absolutely no way that a product as major as the first-ever foldable OnePlus handset just completely flew under the radar until the day before its announcement.
Unless, of course, the plan is to divert a little bit of attention away from the Galaxy Z Fold 3 with some kind of a futuristic concept not meant to hit stores anytime soon. The OnePlus Concept One comes to mind, but it's hard to imagine a universe where such a ploy would hit its mark seeing how great the Z Fold 2 5G already is.
That leaves us with one more guess as to what could happen tomorrow, although OnePlus might not find a lot of success in its attempt to steal Samsung's thunder that way either. We're thinking the company doesn't showcase an actual foldable after all, merely trying to mock Samsung (and possibly, LG) by unveiling a rudimentary method of connecting two old fashioned OnePlus 9 units to achieve the perfect "dual-screen device" undercutting the Z Fold 3 5G.
Either way, we'll admit we're (a little) curious and we'll definitely keep an eye on the company's social media accounts to see what ends up happening. Stay tuned if you're also intrigued!
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