OnePlus is an incredibly ambitious company. The cultish upstart brands its smartphones, ‘Flagship Killers‘ and targets industry heavyweights like Apple and Samsung with its affordable handsets, which often include many of the same features, at lower prices.
However, one type of flagship that OnePlus definitely isn't looking to kill is the raft of new foldable smartphones from Huawei, Samsung, and Motorola.
That's straight from the horse's mouth, too. OnePlus CEO and co-founder Pete Lau has confirmed the Shenzhen-based company has no plans to develop a foldable smartphone at the moment.
Speaking candidly to Repubblica Italy (opens in new tab), Lau said the company has, “not yet found a way to build a device”. Although, he did admit the new category of handheld gadgets was an area of interest for the Chinese company.
Instead, the OnePlus R&D department is focused on the hotly-anticipated OnePlus TV, which was announced last September. According to Lau, the OnePlus TV will not ship with a remote control because engineers at the company believe it's a dated concept. Naturally, you'll be able to control your OnePlus TV with your OnePlus-branded smartphone, and presumably, a number of other Android and iOS devices.
We'd be very surprised if OnePlus made smartphones the only way to control their new television set, so we're expecting to see voice control make its way into the HD panel, too. We wouldn't be surprise to see Google Photos, HangOuts and other popular smartphone applications popping up on the TV as well.
Unfortunately, Pete Lau kept shtum about a potential release date or price for the Smart TV. However, OnePlus is widely-rumoured to be planning an event on May 14 to unveil its next-generation smartphones, OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro, so we're likely to get more details – if not the finished product – on-stage then.
