The much talked about concept phone from OnePlus made its appearance at the ongoing CES 2020 in Vegas. The OnePlus Concept One has turned out to be just that, a concept device at best. The new feature included in the smartphone is certainly quite impressive though it may not have any immediate benefit in terms of its functioning. At the center of this new ‘concept’ is a material, electrochromic glass. The F1 racing company McLaren uses this glass to build the sunroofs for its cars. The glass has a unique property of turning opaque and then transparent again. OnePlus has brought this technology to the rear panel of its smartphone and makes the cameras disappear when not in use.
The Concept One Phone has McLaren’s Name on it
The Concept One device that OnePlus has developed is co-branded with McLaren as done usually with special edition phones. When you check the rear panel, you seethe papaya orange color of the racing company with OnePlus X McLaren printed vertically. You would assume that there is no rear camera present on the device. If you tap on the camera app, the cameras come alive. The electrochromic glass forming the rear panel doubles as a ND filter for the camera and helps in delivering better pictures. The time taken between your switching on the camera app and the cameras becoming visible is just 0.7 seconds.
No Plans for a Commercial Launch?
The current understanding is that OnePlus has no plans of making the OnePlus Concept One phone for the market and it may remain just for demonstration of the technological capability. This is obvious from the way the company has presented the new smartphone at the CES 2020. There has not been any detailing of the other specifications like the processor or the disclosure of the full configuration of the ‘disappearing’ cameras. What could be discerned was that the device resembles the OnePlus 7T Pro in many aspects.
All these may point to the fact that the company may limit the introduction of the OnePlus Concept One smartphone to its display. Some experts point out that if OnePlus were to sell this device it would have to price the handset very high, which goes against the policy it has so far adopted. This might be the reason behind the company not planning for a market launch.