OnePlus took a concept phone, the OnePlus Concept One, to CES 2020 with a new feature of hiding the rear cameras using electronic glass. The followed the style and theme of where they had gotten the idea from, McLaren, and was very orange.
In an interview posted to OnePlus’ forum today the interviewer sat down with Kevin Tao from the OnePlus Industrial Design team who revealed the process behind the Concept One.
The whole idea behind the design process was to make it burdenless to the user such that the product should not impose on the user. To accomplish this every part, including camera parts, do not stick out, there are no weird layouts or anything to upset the user.
Kevin reiterated that the Concept One is just one experiment in the future of smartphone design and the technology is continually being tested and extended and only once the technology is fully ready will it be introduced to the market.
Kevin confirmed that OnePlus are venturing into a new territory called ECMF (Electronic Colours, Materials, Finish) where all of these can be adjusted and configured dynamically by the user or the phone itself. No longer will a phone be a static colour or finish when this is introduced, opening up a world of possibilities.
The leather on the rear of the concept phone was designed in tandem with McLaren using the same premium leather used in the McLaren 720s. In the future if they decide to go down the leather-type of backing they will look for alternate materials that are more environmentally friendly but still give the same look and feel as leather.
Ending off the interview they shared some images of the Concept One early on in development, with black leather. The black leather looks extremely stunning and stylish making us think that it is just matter of time before they release a phone with it included.
At this stage the Concept One is just that — a concept phone that will never make it to market, although we of course wish it would. There is no doubt though that much of the technology from the Concept One will make it to some future OnePlus phones — hopefully this year but not before it is truly “burdenless”.
That black leather one, needs a white, cotton look, centre strip, instead of the gloss black
I do like OnePlus phones, but this just makes it look cheap. If they do release this then hopefully this cheap leather look will only be an option.