Galaxy Z Fold 5 vs OnePlus Open: Competition is good

Foldables are an interesting entity in the world of phones. From the outside, they resemble your traditionally designed smartphone, complete with your standard-sized display and rear camera setup.

Sure, they are a bit thicker than a typical smartphone, but the versatility they offer is unparalleled.

Unfolding the phone reveals a tablet-sized inner display that will surely make any tech enthusiast’s eyes well up with joy. The size and design aren’t for everyone, but as the technology matures, this is likely the future of smartphones.

It might also be the future of laptops, as big names like HP have recently released single-screen foldable devices.

Samsung was the first manufacturer to release a foldable device and has been steadily improving its designs ever since. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is the latest Z Fold device and it’s a technical marvel.

OnePlus recently entered the foldable market with the OnePlus Open, and on its first try, built an impressive device. Let’s find out which device truly reigns supreme.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 vs OnePlus Open: Price, availability, and specs

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 has been available to purchase since August 11, 2023, and comes with a starting price of $1800 for the 256GB model. The 512GB version retails for $1920 and the 1TB comes in a whopping $2160.

At first glance, the price seems extremely high, and it is, but at least there is a ton of technology packed into it. It comes in blue, grey, phantom black, cream, and icy blue.

You can get the Galaxy Z Fold 5 from Samsung directly, from major carriers such as Verizon or T-Mobile as well as authorized retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.

OnePlus launched the OnePlus Open on October 19, 2023, and comes in a single configuration that retails for $1700. The OnePlus Open is a bit harder to find compared to the Z Fold 5.

No carriers have picked up the device, so if you want the OnePlus Open, you are going to have to get it from OnePlus directly or from a retailer like Amazon or Best Buy. It’s available in two colorways: emerald dusk and voyager black.

Design

Both devices are well built and just scream quality. From the outside, they look like any other flagship device. The front is all display, with a hole-punch camera at the top, and their respective camera assemblies on the back.

Both the Z Fold 5, and the OnePlus Open have aluminum frames and are similar in size. When folded, the Galaxy is 154.9 x 67.1 x 13.4mm and 154.9 x 129.9 x 6.1mm when unfolded.

The OnePlus Open is a tad shorter, wider, and thinner than the Z Fold 5. The Open is 153.4 x 73.3 x 11.7mm when folded and 153.4 x 143.1 x 5.8mm when unfolded.

The Z Fold 5 clocks in at 253g, and the OnePlus Open is 239g for the black version or 245g for the green one.

Whether open or closed, the Z Fold 5 has its power and volume buttons along the right edge of the device and a USB-C port at the bottom.

The OnePlus Open also has its power and volume buttons along the right edge and a USB-C port on the bottom. The alert slide is on the right side when folded or the left when unfolded.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5’s IPX8 gives solid water protection but lacks dust protection. The OnePlus Open has an IPX4 rating, which means it can survive some rain or a splash of water.

The lack of a dust rating on both devices is disappointing and a pain point for foldables as a whole.

Turning these devices over, you will notice the first major difference. Samsung went with its tried-and-true triple camera setup, with each lens neatly tucked in a vertical line. It’s a clean aesthetic and does its job of being unintrusive.

The OnePlus Open, on the other hand, has a massive circular camera bump that takes up a little less than half of the back.

I don’t find it as offensive on the black version because it blends in nicely, but it just looks gaudy against the green color. It also protrudes out of the back, so the phone rests on the camera housing.

Display

If you are considering a foldable device, you are likely most interested in the displays. Luckily, both devices knock it out of the park in that department.

The Samsung Z Fold 5 has a 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X cover display. It has a 2316 x 904 resolution, a 120Hz (adaptive) refresh rate, and is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

The internal AMOLED 2X display is a whopping 7.6 inches. It has a 2176 x 1812 resolution and a 120Hz (LTPO) refresh rate.

The internal display is protected by a plastic cover and has a peak brightness of 1,750 nits, allowing easy viewing outdoors.

The OnePlus Open has a 6.31-inch, 2484 x 1116 OLED cover display protected with a Ceramic Guard. It has an eye-searing peak brightness of 2800 nits and a LTPO3, 120Hz refresh rate.

Opening the OnePlus reveals a massive 7.82-inch AMOLED LTPO3 display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It has the same 2800 nits of peak brightness, making it easy to see in the brightest of conditions.

Of the two devices, the OnePlus Open has the better overall displays. I have always found the Z Fold cover display too narrow, and the OnePlus Open fixes that.

The OnePlus Open also has a higher peak brightness and more pixels per inch on the internal displays, 426 for the OnePlus compared to 373 for the Galaxy.

Performance

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the OnePlus Open are absolute performance beasts thanks to their Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processors.

Now that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processors are here and used in devices like the Samsung Galaxy S24, you would be forgiven for thinking that the previous generation is inferior.

The benchmarks and total performance might be lower on the previous generation Gen 2 chipset, but in real-world use, these devices fly.

Where these two devices differ is in their overall configurations. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 comes with 12GB of RAM and either 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage.

The OnePlus Open has a single configuration and ships with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

The extra RAM is nice to have on the OnePlus Open, but unless you are the ultimate power user, you will not likely notice much of a difference between 12GB and 16GB of RAM.

What you will notice is that neither device will have issues multitasking, playing your favorite games, or even editing videos.

Camera

For years, fans of foldable devices had to make do with subpar camera setups. The typical excuse thrown out is due to the phone’s thinness; there just wasn’t space to put flagship-level cameras on these devices.

Then the competition came for Samsung and upended that belief.

Whether in image quality or overall versatility, these two devices aren’t on the same playing field. The OnePlus Open’s camera setup trounces the one on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.

The OnePlus Open has a triple camera setup consisting of a 48MP f/1.7 OIS primary lens, a 48MP f/2.2 ultrawide lens, and a 64MP f/2.6 OIS telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom.

Depending on what you need, all three lenses will give you some excellent shots with good details.

The Z Fold 5’s primary lens is comparable to a 50MP f/1.8 OIS lens. Where the Z Fold 5 falls off is with its 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide lens and 10MP f/2.4 OIS telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom.

They will work in a pinch but won’t be as clear or have as much detail as the ones on the OnePlus.

The OnePlus Open and Z Fold 5 give you two different selfie cameras each. Again, the OnePlus Open has better cameras for taking a great selfie.

The Open has a 32MP f/2.4 cover camera and a 20MP f/2.2 lens when the device is opened. The Z Fold 5 has a 10MP f/2.2 cover camera and a 4MP f/1.8 under-display camera.

Software

Foldable devices rely heavily on software to take advantage of the larger screens, and both Samsung and OnePlus have their takes on Android that do just that.

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 shipped with Android 13 and One UI 5.1, which has since been upgraded to Android 14 and One UI 6. The OnePlus Open comes with Android 13 and OxygenOS 13.2.

Both One UI and OxygenOS offer great customization options, allowing you to tweak the theme and feel until you are completely satisfied.

You get split-screen multitasking on both devices, each allowing for up to three apps to be active simultaneously. Android apps take advantage of the larger internal display, allowing you to open apps side by side.

Samsung’s One UI pulls away with the inclusion of DeX, which allows you to plug your Z Fold 5 into an external display, giving you a ChromeOS-like experience. It’s great when you need to get real work done and don’t have a ,computer nearby.

Samsung is also a bit more reliable when updating their devices. Both phones offer four years of Android updates and a fifth year of security updates.

Samsung provides security updates every month, while OnePlus updates theirs on a bi-monthly basis. Samsung is also faster to upgrade Android. The Z Fold 5 has already been upgraded, while the OnePlus Open is still on Android 13.

Battery life

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 comes with a 4,400mAh battery and is capable of 25W wired charging, 15W wireless charging, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging.

OnePlus is the leader in the battery department when it comes to capacity and charging speeds. It equipped its device with a 4,805mAh battery that offers 67W wired charging and reverse wired charging.

OnePlus decided not to equip the Open with wireless charging, which is a huge letdown. At this price point, manufacturers shouldn’t be skimping out on features, no matter how big or small.

The Z Fold 5 can charge about 50% of its battery in about 30 minutes using a 25W wired charger. The Open can charge 100% of its battery in about 42 minutes.

The extra capacity of the OnePlus Open gives it the edge in overall battery life as well. You can expect the OnePlus Open to last anywhere from 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours longer than the Z Fold 5.

Which is right for you?

Samsung and OnePlus both offer fantastic devices that do so much right. Overall, the OnePlus Open has done enough to unseat Samsung from its throne.

The OnePlus Open offers a wider and more comfortable cover display, great performance, awesome cameras, and amazing battery life. OxygenOS is also customizable and enjoyable to use daily.

The issue for OnePlus is how quickly it will get its software updated and the lack of wireless charging. Even with these minor shortcomings, it does so much right that it deserves to be the winner.

That’s not to say the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is a bad phone, far from it.

It still offers a fantastic package and a great user experience. It too has great performance and amazing-looking displays, but trails in the camera and battery categories.

Samsung is more reliable when it comes to software updates and its software is a little better. This is especially true if you take advantage of DeX.

Just make sure you put a quality Galaxy Z Fold 5 case on it to make sure that it stays looking amazing for years to come.

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