CES 2020: OnePlus Concept One showcased at Las Vegas

After days of teasing, OnePlus formally unveiled the Concept One mobile phone at the ongoing international tech fair Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020, Las Vegas.

As advertised, the OnePlus Concept One boasts disappearing camera feature and the credit has to go to official merchandise partner McLaren, which has lend its Electrochromic glass technology to the Chinese company. The same glass has long been used by the British automobile giant for its 720S luxury sports car's top-panel to control sunlight inside.

Apparently, OnePlus took 18 months of work to get a small functional unit to incorporate in the Concept One.

"For the OnePlus Concept One, we managed to achieve something far thinner than the industry average: the glass panels are just 0.1mm each, for a combined total of only 0.35mm. That's as thin as a display glass protector film," Pete Lau, CEO, OnePlus said. 

Basically, what the Electrochromic glass does is that it can switch between transparent and opaque (when electricity is passed), which comes handy in hiding the camera in plain sight and only gets revealed when snapping photos or recording a video. In the OnePlus Concept One, it can transform from opaque to transparent and vice-versa in just 0.7 seconds.

OnePlus Concept One (Credit: OnePlus)

Yes, the camera hiding feature seems flimsy, but it will be useful for phones with more lens on the back, which has become a norm and most often than not, hurt the uniformity of the phone's design. Remember the Penta-camera phone - Nokia 9 PureView; it would have been great if it had the aforementioned cover capability.

OnePlus Concept One boasts the McLaren insignia on top and also sport Papaya Orange-hued leather cover, which encases everything on the back except for the vertical stretch in the boat paddle shape, in the middle, where the camera and logos are engraved.

Another notable aspect of the OnePlus Concept One is the Neutral-density (ND) filter. It is found in the Pro camera mode and the user gets three options, which will control ISO and background light to get a really good picture.

Everything else such as display, processor, mobile operating system, camera hardware, RAM, storage and battery capacity is similar to the OnePlus 7T Pro.

Read more: OnePlus 7T Pro review: A top performer

However, the company has not revealed when it plans to bring the commercial variant of the Concept One to the market and how much it may cost.

Check out the OnePlus Concept One demo video:

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