Foldables always rank among my most anticipated upcoming phones, and an impressive debut effort means anything OnePlus sits right at the top until rivals catch up. While it’s not quite time for a full sequel, the new OnePlus Open Apex Edition sounds like it’ll be the next best thing. The revised version of Stuff’s favourite book-style clamshell is due imminently, with a fresh colour scheme and some notable internal upgrades.
It’d be easy to write this off as just a lick of paint for a year-old phone – but when the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 feels like a fallow year effort, I’ll happily take a few minor upgrades. OnePlus is being coy on those details right now, though, with a full reveal set for August 7.
“Enhanced storage, AI image editing features, and innovative security features” are all promised, while a listing on the US OnePlus website suggests a RAM upgrade might also be on the way. I’m betting that means a 1TB capacity (the regular Open had 512GB), and a similar set of picture tweaking tools to the Oppo Reno 12 Pro (OnePlus and Oppo are so tightly linked now the Open is sold in certain territories as the Oppo Find N3).
The new security features are more of a mystery. The open has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor; I doubt the Apex Edition will add in-display scanners to the mix, but I can dream of facial recognition secure enough for banking apps.
As a photography fan, I’m more excited about the ‘Crimson Shadow’ colour scheme. It’s apparently a nod to OnePlus’ imaging partner Hasselblad; the firm’s 503CW 60 Years Victor Red Edition film camera has the same vegan leather and diamond-like pattern. Expect orange trim on the alert slider, and silver frame to set it apart from the standard Open. It’s also a great reminder that OnePlus absolutely schools Samsung when it comes to camera hardware.
The rest of the hardware line-up is unlikely to change, meaning a year-old Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU and 4805mAh battery – but that’s still plenty potent enough for multitasking, and enough juice for all day use. Factor in OnePlus’ fantastic Open Canvas split-screen software and there’s plenty here to give the Galaxy Z Fold6 reason to worry. If I was in the market for a top-tier foldable, I’d certainly wait until August 7 before breaking out the credit card.
