We're drawing close to the launch of one of the most anticipated smartphones of 2017- the OnePlus 5. Last year's OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T were a huge success for the Chinese firm and they still are the best mid-range smartphones to purchase. That said, OnePlus will be under tremendous pressure to fill the shoes of the successful OnePlus 3, 3T with the OnePlus 5.
A few weeks ago, the company officially teased the smartphone as 'Hello 5,' confirming that its next smartphone would be called as OnePlus 5 and not OnePlus 4. Later on, OnePlus said that the phone would be released this summer, which will be in the month of June. As the launch date is nearing, we're witnessing more leaks about the phone, especially regarding the design of the phone. Also, some things are officially confirmed by the company itself.
Let's take a look at what rumours and OnePlus has to say about the upcoming Flagship Killer.
1) Design
The major aspect in the question of OnePlus 5 is its design. The buzz is not entirely about the design of the phone, but how the dual cameras will be placed- horizontally or vertically. A lot of prototype device images have surfaced online suggesting both vertical and horizontal camera setup, but nothing is official for now, and the design of OnePlus 5 is still under the wraps.
All the prototype images missed out the 3.5mm headphone jack, but OnePlus confirmed that they are not going to ditch the ubiquitous audio transmitter- giving a huge relief for all the fans out there.
However, there's news which amazed me the most. The official Facebook handle of OnePlus Danmark (@OnePlusDanmark) has shared an exclusive prototype leak of Android Authority. The prototype in the leak has a similar design of the OnePlus 3T along with vertically placed dual cameras at the back.
So, will that be the final design of the OnePlus 5?
2) Hardware
Well, answer this question before getting into the hardware of OnePlus 5- How many of you imagined the OnePlus 5 with MediaTek Helio X30 SoC? The answer would be NONE. I am saying this because OnePlus in its official forums page had confirmed that the OnePlus 5 would be powered by the Snapdragon 835 chipset, teamed with 6GB of RAM and Adreno 540 GPU. That official confirmation didn't excite me by any bit.
OnePlus in the same forums page stated that it is working on improving the touch latency in the OnePlus 5 by conducting various checks ahead of the release. Battery wise, the device may come with a 3600mAh unit with Dash Charge 2.0 technology.
3) Camera
The major aspect to look out for in the OnePlus 5 and it will define the phone' success in 2017 because almost every flagship phone has dual camera support, sans the Samsung Galaxy S8 series. OnePlus must employ dual camera setup in the phone and rumours are rife over the same.
Further, OnePlus has recently said that it's working with camera expert organisation DxO to improve the camera in the OnePlus 5. Finally, a OnePlus device might go ahead to the Samsung Galaxy smartphone in terms of camera.
4) Conclusion
Going by the rumours, the OnePlus 5 will be a groundbreaking device, but the end product should impress the audience like the OnePlus 3 or 3T.
If the rumoured features make their way into the final version of the OnePlus 5 and if OnePlus manages to get a decent camera smartphone (if not the best camera smartphone till date), the OnePlus 5 will dethrone the Xiaomi Mi 6 in its homeland and other countries as well. For now, the Xiaomi Mi 6 is the cheapest smartphone to come with Snapdragon 835 chip.
