There have been rumours circulating for the last few weeks that OnePlus were set to bring an incremental upgrade to their mid-year flagship, just as they did last year. An apparent press render of an upcoming OnePlus device has surfaced showing an all new display.
Rumours of a new OnePlus phone have been fueled by stock levels not being refilled on both the Chinese and US stores. We saw recently that OnePlus’ big brother OPPO released their first 18:9 aspect ratio display phone and we all know that this year OnePlus and OPPO have at least shared the basic design of a phone – the R11/OnePlus 5. Last year the OnePlus 3T was released with an upgraded chipset but this year there is no upgraded chipset to replace the Snapdragon 835 they already use so what could they do to bring a better phone to the market? How about a new 18:9 display?
The image shows minimal bezels on the top and bottom of the phone, the power button on the right, volume rocker on the left as well as the profile switch that I surprisingly loved on the OnePlus 5. The sides of the phone seem to have a slight curve to them, most likely a 2.5D style curve.
While the render may well be faked there is also a leak today of an OPPO R11s case which seems to be a design that points towards the presence of an 18:9 display. There is also the placement of the fingerprint sensor on the back. This is apparently the updated version of the R11, which was the same design as which other phone? The OnePlus 5. Fits to me.
18:9 displays are the in thing at the moment so why wouldn’t OnePlus attempt to capitalise on this new trend (one in which I love). There are some who purchased a OnePlus 5 who may be upset by OnePlus doing this, as there was last year with OnePlus 3 owners but I think they should not be.
Every other manufacturer (except maybe Google) release two flagships per year, why shouldn’t OnePlus. Just because they release a new device it does not make the old device stop working? They have shown in the past year that they will continue to support both models so that should not be an issue. Although several of us here at Ausdroid consider the OnePlus 5 to be the best overall phone of 2017 it does not mean that an upgrade/update to it means the 5 is no longer a great device.
We reached out to OnePlus and received the expected “no comment” but what better way to start their permanent sale of OnePlus devices into Australia than with a brand new device which would possibly make the best phone of 2017 even better.
I just hope they keep the headphone jack.