Ahead of what we expect to be a jam-packed Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event on Wednesday, OnePlus took to Twitter on Tuesday to announce that it, too, had scheduled a surprise event for Aug. 11 at 10:00 a.m. ET. What a coincidence! And the overlap didn’t end there: On Tuesday, OnePlus also leaked a teaser image for what appears to be some sort of dual-screened device that looks suspiciously similar to the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3.
Is it two smartphones smushed together? Does it fold? Is that a black band running down the middle of those dual screens? From that teaser alone, it’s impossible to say for sure.
Or maybe the new product isn’t a device at all but merely an accessory—something akin to the optional second screen you can purchase separately, like we saw with the LG Velvet.
In any case, it certainly seems fair to assume that this little stunt was designed with the explicit intention of stealing Samsung’s limelight—a level of pettiness that we can relate to, but simply can’t respect.
Stolen thunder or not, Samsung’s event is still expected to deliver some bangers, with the expected reveal of the company’s Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatch series, the Galaxy Buds 2, and the now strangely familiar-looking Galaxy Z Flip 3 and the Galaxy Z Fold 3. The folding smartphones have already generated a ton of hype, especially since Samsung revealed in a blog post that they would be kicking off the entire event. As Gizmodo previously reported, the Z Flip folds down like the flip phones of yore, and the Z Fold opens outwardly, like a book.
To find out what’s in store for both companies, be ready 10:00 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT tomorrow for the dueling previews. If only there were a way to stream both events on the same device, but separate screens...