OnePlus’ Open (review) was the company’s first foldable, which generally received solid impressions, thanks to its slim design and top-class cameras. The Open 2 is tipped to be delayed until next year due to the company bringing beefier specs like having the latest chipset. Seemingly, there could be another vital change in tow, and that might put the upcoming device as the foldable phone to beat.
According to frequent leaker Digital Chat Station over on Weibo, OnePlus and its sister company Oppo are said to be working on a full-folding smartphone that will launch next year and fitted with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset. This was in line with the previous rumor of the next Open to skip the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and hitting the scene in 2025.
Will it be a foldable smartphone with the largest battery capacity?
What’s more interesting in the report is that it described the handset in development to be sporting a 6,000 mAh battery pack, which is significantly larger than the OnePlus Open’s 4,805 mAh battery capacity. In essence, that would make it roughly 20 percent more juice from the predecessor and the biggest battery size in foldable smartphones.
But is this feasible without compromises in weight and thickness? Well, OnePlus is likely utilizing its current newly developed technology called Glacier Battery, so, technically it’s already not possible.
For refreshers, glacier batteries are the same with lithium-ion cells but has more silicon content and use a new cell structure for improved denseness. This results in a higher density while still being lighter than current typical lithium-ion cells.
The OnePlus Ace 3 Pro that launched last month is the first to feature such tech, with the handset equipped with 6,100 mAh battery capacity while measuring under 9 mm on its thinnest part and tipping the scale at 207 grams.
For what its worth, OnePlus could switch to the same battery design on the OnePlus Open 2 and even on the OnePlus 13, although we’re not really sure if the mentioned capacity will be achieved here.
At the same time, looking at the current foldable trends, many manufacturers are fitting larger batteries on their foldable smartphones. Hence, it’s not entirely surprising if future folding devices will arrive with bigger cell capacities.
Do you think that companies should focus on improving battery technologies on smartphones than bringing fancier features like AI? What is your opinion? We’re eager to hear your thoughts in the comments.