The limited edition OnePlus Open is the most striking foldable phone yet

Based on all the leaks and Google’s own marketing, we already know that the upcoming Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a design quite similar to last year’s OnePlus Open. OnePlus doesn’t (yet) have a new foldable ready to take on the latest from Google and Samsung, so for the time being, it’s instead releasing a limited edition of the Open in a crimson red color. That’s one way to squeeze some more juice out of the thing, right?

Priced at $1,899.99, the OnePlus Open Apex Edition is completely specced out with 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM. Aside from the color, the company has made some other very minor hardware tweaks with this version: the alert slider switch is thinner with a carved-out splash of orange in the middle, for example.

OnePlus’ press release says this about the “crimson shadow” color: “the darker, almost veiled tone offers a sense of mystery and evocation, hinting at an enduring timelessness.” The red is applied to the faux leather back cover and the camera ring, and OnePlus includes a matching case for the device in the box.

I’ve been carrying the Apex Edition around New York City for a few days now and have gotten plenty of questions about it. It’s a looker, and this is also the first time I’ve gotten familiar with the Open’s design after many months of using a Pixel Fold. Spoiler: this is the way, and I’m now very glad Google is making the switch to a similar approach.

And damn, this company sure did come up with a great system for multitasking. Allison covered a lot of it in her review, so check that out. The long and short of it is that OnePlus’ gestures and multi-app experiences feel surprisingly intuitive in very little time.

But there are also some things about OnePlus’ software that I find mystifying. Here are a few:

• You can only have four apps in each row on the homescreen, and that’s really messing with my usual layout. Where are my grid customization options? I can’t even fit Gmail into the dock.
• There’s no way to disable the Google Discover feed that’s to the left of your homescreen. Bizarre. Most other Android phones let you turn this off with a simple toggle.
• Whenever you close all of your apps — yes, I still do this — the phone displays a useless “your system is now in optimal condition” message. Great. Thanks.
• The alphabetical ordering of the app tray is nonsensical. Because the “craigslist” app uses lowercase, it’s placed before Calculator. Make it make sense.
• Just like on iOS, OnePlus puts a dot next to recently updated or newly installed apps. This drives me mad and cannot be turned off, and so I have no choice but to open every app just to clear the dots and restore order.

One new software feature called VIP Mode is totally exclusive to the Apex Edition. And I’ve gotta say that it feels pretty tacked on. When you push the alert slider to its top position, you enter this mode. Here’s what OnePlus claims that it does:

VIP Mode locks the security chip to create a completely secure and private environment where all microphones and cameras on the phone are disabled, and advertising tracking is heavily restricted through chip-level permission encryption powered by the secure chip. VIP mode also prevents chat information from being viewed or recorded by apps without permission.

I’m not some hotshot CEO, so maybe I just don’t have the right appreciation for VIP Mode. Either way, I wish I could customize the alert slider to do something else when I put it in that position instead of being stuck with this mode I’ll rarely need.

But back to the hardware: there’s just a lot I’ve come to enjoy about the OnePlus Open in a matter of days. The inner display’s screen protector has an anti-reflective quality that makes it easy to see in a variety of lighting conditions. The speakers sound noticeably better than those on the Pixel Fold. And I’m again impressed by OnePlus’ proprietary wired charging speeds.

The Apex Edition of the OnePlus Open will be available “while supplies last” when it goes up for purchase on August 8th for $1,899.99. If you don’t need the fancy red color, you can temporarily save a bit on the standard model with 512GB of storage, which will be on sale for $1,399 from August 8th through the 30th. See? It’s pretty clear the company is trying to lure in some Pixel 9 Pro Fold buyers.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge