OnePlus answer the question of Australian availability of the 5T in their AMA

Usually anyone who does an AMA is referring to Reddit but of course OnePlus like to do things differently and instead decided to host the AMA on their own forums this morning. They were fairly open and honest with their answers although they did not answer all questions (and they don’t have to, it’s an Ask Me Anything, not an I’ll Answer Anything).

Let’s get to the most important question and answer first, and thanks to BryceFewster for asking it first (there were a few): When are they planning to release the 5T in Australia?

Thank you for your support. We’re putting sales for this region on hold until we’re sure our Aussie fans can get the best OnePlus experience. Please keep an eye on our channels for updates on product availability. 🙂Kale W. E-commerce Lead

So, basically, nothing we didn’t already know. It is not a never, it is not a soon, but a hold. I suspect they will be shoring up their other markets and when it is financially viable they will move here. They have said that if they did it they would like to have staff here in Australia to handle everything and their focus is on making sure their key markets launch smoothly before they will look at expanding. My thoughts on it anyway — What are yours?

Other tidbits of information gleaned include:

• It is priced the same as the OnePlus 5 (OP5) because they firstly build the phone they want and then in the end set a fair price accordingly. The price for the 5T just happened to land at the same as the 5. Not surprisingly, although some of the hardware is upgraded the pieces that are the same would have decreased in price since earlier in the year when the 5 price was set.
• OP5 will not be getting face unlock because it does not need it — it has a fingerprint sensor on the front…..Der.
• There may not be a T model every year — it depends on whether there is enough new technology that they deem useful to their users.
• OnePlus do not believe QHD displays are required as users cannot tell the difference:

Recently we did a private unveiling of the 5T to 20 of our core fans before everyone else.

Afterwards, two came up to me to ask if the 5T had a QHD display. I smiled and said yes. They inspected the display and expressed what an improvement in clarity it was over the 5.

— Carl Pei (@getpeid) November 17, 2017

• They don’t feel that dual speakers will ever deliver enough user value and thus will not include them.
• The release of the 5T will not have any impact on the software updates for the OP5.
• OnePlus do not currently support Project Treble and “do not plan to for these devices”. This is a strange one we cannot figure out. While their current architecture for the device may predate Treble they are a GMS partner so should have known about it a long time ago. Hopefully they will expand on this in the coming months as Treble allows for long term fast update-ability (yes I think I just made up a word).
• OnePlus 3 and 3T will receive Android 8.1.
• No mid-range smartphone ever, although you could argue their prices are mid-range already.
• Eventually builds of the 5 and 5T will be synced like they have done with the 3 and 3T.
• OIS was not included as it would have increased the size of the phone by too much.
• While it does not have an IP rating the OP5T “will survive day to day situations but not showering or swimming with it”.
• Face Unlock is faster than Android’s Trusted Face feature as it was calibrated for their front facing camera specifically.
• The OP5T will get continuous official updates for two years.
• Face Unlock actually uses less battery than not using it.
• They are investigating the possible implementation of Always on Display.
• The codename for the 5T is/was Dumpling.
• When asked if there would be a special version of the 5T like there was for the five the answer was: “Good idea! ;)” Star Wars edition here we come!

So what did we learn from all that? OnePlus continue to listen to their fans and try and do the right thing by them. Hopefully they can hear their Australian fans shouting out loud that we want the 5T, preferably the Star Wars edition, on our shores ASAP.