OnePlus Reveals Pre-Installed Apps on Its Foldable Phone Priced Over INR 1 Lakh

OnePlus has given us the clearest hint yet that its first foldable phone will have bloatware or as we know preloaded apps. The company claims that Open Open has a small number of pre-installed apps, which likely include Facebook, Netflix, Amazon and a few others.

OnePlus defends its decision to preload apps on the foldable, which is rumored to cost well over Rs 1 lakh in the market, and its reasoning seems well-tuned to the device experience. “With the introduction of OnePlus Open, we have worked closely with a number of mainstream app developers to ensure their apps are compatible with our new foldable design for a better user experience,” OnePlus said in a recent statement.

We’ve seen other foldable devices on the market, so OnePlus isn’t bringing anything new. In fact, apps like Facebook are already compatible with foldable devices like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and even the Google Pixel Fold. So what special experience can OnePlus offer in basic social media apps?

Granted, apps like Netflix may need to be tweaked to support OnePlus Open’s expected high-end displays, but the company’s message still feels ill-timed ahead of a big launch. “We believe this approach strikes the right balance between a novel and seamless user experience while maintaining the stability and security of our products,” the company adds.

We’ve dropped other premium brands like Samsung because they run ads on their high-end devices, so it’s unlikely that OnePlus will get a free pass.

A few years ago, you’d be surprised to hear OnePlus talking about all kinds of preloaded apps on its products. But this is the new OnePlus running on a different model, which seems to be the reason for this dramatic change. We’re eagerly waiting to see what preloaded apps the OnePlus Open foldable will get in India and if it really needs to be there to improve the user experience as the company claims.