OnePlus is rumored to launch three smartphones this year – the much-awaited OnePlus 7 and a 5G phone with a new brand name in the first half of 2019, and the OnePlus 7T towards the end of this year. The Chinese vendor is expected to unveil its 5G smartphone at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona later this year. The OnePlus 7 flagship is expected to debut sometime in May or June, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see it at the MWC itself. A leaked OnePlus 7 image has appeared on the Internet showing off its stunning design.
This OnePlus 7 images sheds light on its design
Though there has been little clarity on its design, fans were expecting the device to ditch the display notch for a fully bezel-less design. Users were disappointed with the iPhone X-like notch on the OnePlus 6. The Chinese company tried to soothe them by opting for a much smaller waterdrop notch on the OnePlus 6T. The leaked OnePlus 7 image hints that the company is going to do away with the notch altogether.
Italian blog Tutto Android spotted a leaked OnePlus 7 image shared by Chinese Twitter user @Steven_Sbw, which gives us a look at the front panel of the device. It’s worth pointing out that the leaker doesn’t have a proven track record providing accurate details of unreleased devices, so the leak should be taken with a bit of skepticism. Leaker @Steven_Sbw didn’t mention how and where they obtained the image.
https://twitter.com/Steven_Sbw/status/1095740960573538304
The leaked image reveals that the device has no notch at the top. It means the company could opt for a slider mechanism for the selfie camera. Many Chinese vendors such as Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Huawei have already launched notch-less phones that use the slide-out front camera mechanism. Given OnePlus is owned by the same company as Vivo and Oppo, it could borrow the slider mechanism from its siblings.
Earlier reports have indicated that OnePlus was experimenting with the slider mechanism. It would allow the vendor to include more camera modules without compromising on the display real estate. Users will get to enjoy an edge-to-edge screen. One unusual thing about the leaked OnePlus 7 image is that the top bezel appears to be thicker than the bottom bezel for some reason.
Last month, we came across another leaked OnePlus 7 image that suggested the device would have a full-screen design. It showed two devices placed side-by-side in protective gear to hide their design elements. The phone on the left appeared to be a OnePlus 7 prototype with a sliding front-camera mechanism. Its display is curved on the edges. The second device had a waterdrop notch and it’s rumored to be the 5G phone.
oneplus 7 ? pic.twitter.com/L6UF2jjEL4
— pete (@xiaovai77) January 12, 2019
Other rumored OnePlus 7 specs
OnePlus 7 would run the company’s custom OxygenOS skin on top of Android 9 Pie. It will reportedly run Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 processor, which would power most of the flagship Android devices this year. OnePlus has confirmed that the 5G phone would be “part of a totally new line,” so don’t expect the OnePlus 7 to offer 5G capabilities. The upcoming flagship would support the Warp Charge 30 charging technology that debuted with the McLaren Edition last year.
Recent reports suggest the OnePlus 7 would offer HDR streaming. Currently, streaming services such as Netflix don’t support HDR on OnePlus handsets, but they do on devices from Apple, Samsung, LG, Google, Sony, and Huawei. The OnePlus 7 with 8GB RAM and Snapdragon 855 chipset would be powerful enough to support HDR. The phone would also have a gorgeous Super AMOLED display to offer a better streaming experience.
The upcoming flagship would offer an in-display fingerprint sensor for security and authentication, similar to OnePlus 6T. Most of the OnePlus competitors have rushed to use a 3D infrared sensor for facial recognition, but the Chinese company will reportedly not bring this technology to OnePlus 7.
OnePlus has been consistently increasing the prices of its flagship phones with each new model. So, the OnePlus 7 will likely cost a little higher than OnePlus 6T, which starts at $549 for the 6GB RAM variant and $629 for the 8GB model. Even at that price, it would cost only about half as much as the flagship iPhones.
