I'm not sure if the OnePlus Open has sold enough units to make a dent in Samsung's foldable market share since not having carrier subsidies in North America is an obstacle, but it sure has stolen most of the thunder from Samsung on the critical front. I don't have an exact stat, but the OnePlus Open seems to have been hailed as the best foldable phone of 2023 by every tech publication or tech reviewer peer I've come across. And it's well deserved: Not only does the Open have objectively superior displays and camera hardware than rival foldables from Samsung and Google, but it also has arguably the best foldable software.

The OnePlus Open is simply the best at multitasking, thanks to an innovative system that I've never seen before on a phone. After having used it, I want it on all other phones, tablets, and heck, even computers. It's that good.

What makes the OnePlus Open so good at multitasking?

Dynamic split-screen grid

Virtually every Android phone gives you the option to run two apps at the same time in split-screen mode; it was a core Android feature introduced with Android 7 in 2016. Eight years later, the Android split-screen mode hasn't changed much. The digital border dividing the two apps only has two or three positions (splitting apps in either 50/50, 30/70, or 70/30 formats), and once you set the position, the two apps are locked and can't really move much. If you pull up the keyboard in one of the split apps, the keyboard typically won't scale properly, sometimes taking up the entire grid.

The software engineers at OnePlus — or rather, parent company Oppo, because the Oppo Find N3 has this feature too — fixed this by implementing a feature called Open Canvas (Oppo calls its version the Boundless Display) that makes the split-screen grid dynamic, so it's no longer confined to the physical borders of the screen. When you interact with an app, the UI zooms into that app, and when you jump to the other, the UI pans over to that one. And because the Open has a large 7.8-inch screen when unfolded, you can have a grid with three apps, and the UI dynamically zooms in and out of each one depending on use. If you bring up a keyboard on one of the apps, you'll actually get a full-sized keyboard.

You can arrange the three apps in side-by-side vertical rows or two vertical and one below it. Normally, the app you're interacting with takes up the bulk of the screen, but pinching in with four fingers will shrink the grid so you can see all three apps at the same time.

It's hard to describe in words, so please watch the videos below to see it in action. In the first video, you can see I have Chrome, Spotify, and the Photo gallery opened and the UI smoothly zooms in and out of each one as I interact with the app.

Below, another reviewer is running three games at once:

A very useful recent files folder

Why didn't anyone else think of this?

Another little touch that OnePlus/Oppo did to make multitasking easier is by adding a "recent files" folder to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. This folder stores the last few files you've interacted with, so if you download a document from Gmail, that document is in your recent files folder for easy sharing. And yes, the UI supports drag and drop across multiple apps, too.

Lots of RAM and optimized software

OnePlus has always excelled in these areas

Open Canvas and recent files are clever ideas, but you need enough RAM and optimized software to pull them off. Fortunately, OnePlus has always been very generous with RAM. The OnePlus 5 was the first phone to offer 8GB of RAM back in 2017, and the Open's 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM is among the most you can get in any mobile device right now. Those who use Chinese phones may be spoiled and expect 16GB of RAM to be the norm in a $1,700 device, but it's not. Apple and Samsung are both on the conservative side with memory: Samsung's flagship S series starts with 8GB of RAM, and Apple sells laptops with that same memory configuration.

Another thing that makes the Open feel like such a great multitasking device is software fluidity. Open Canvas is constantly zooming in and out of apps. If the animations are not buttery smooth or if there's even a half-second lag between jumping around apps, it kills the experience.

Open Canvas is a game-changer

I do a lot of work on my phone, and after having used the OnePlus Open's software, I find myself struggling when I switch to another. Suddenly, tasks I do that require checking multiple apps (such as fact-checking articles and booking flights while looking through the calendar) take several more swipes and extra seconds.

I want the Open Canvas style of multitasking on not just other foldables, or even just other phones, but on my tablets and computers, too. Currently, jumping between multiple windows on the MacBook still requires me to swipe up on the trackpad with three fingers to trigger Mission Control, which shows me my apps in floating windows. But I can't quickly jump between the windows and apps. I must still go to Mission Control, and then tap on that app.

Whatever the case, OnePlus' (or I suppose, Oppo's) multitasking system has ruined other methods of multitasking for me.