Pete Lau, CEO of OnePlus on Sunday released an image on Twitter which shows the rear side of the company’s upcoming OnePlus 8 device. Lau has continued to tease the OnePlus 8 series smartphones which are scheduled to be launched on April 14 by tweeting images, videos and other insights of the phone. The OnePlus CEO on April 8 shared two camera samples of OnePlus 8 Pro shot in the dark which were released alongside two photos from “another flagship phone.” Lau left it to his followers to determine which samples were taken from his company’s flagship and which were taken from the “another flagship phone.” While Lau continues to release bits and pieces of the upcoming OnePlus 8 series smartphones, various details of the phone have already been shared by many on Twitter and online forums. We at TelecomTalk have compiled everything we know about this phone so far as we await the official launch scheduled for Tuesday.
OnePlus 8 Series: OnePlus 8, OnePlus 8 Pro and Possibly OnePlus Z
OnePlus on March 30 in a tweet announced that the company’s upcoming smartphones would be the OnePlus 8 series. The tweet confirmed that the company’s upcoming devices would follow the OnePlus naming strategy. In the recent past, the company released the OnePlus 7T series in the second half of 2019 while the OnePlus 7 series launched prior to the OnePlus 7T series in May 2019.
Additionally, Lau said on Twitter that the company had pushed back the launch three times before locking down the date of April 14 due to the COVID-19 situation. Despite the launch being pushed back three times, the phone could end up in the hands of consumers earlier than its predecessors. The OnePlus 7 and the OnePlus 6 series were both released in May while the OnePlus 5 was released in June.
While the company only announced that the OnePlus 8 series would be launched, it has been speculated that the OnePlus could launch an OnePlus Z targeted at a budget-friendly price point.
Max Weinbach, writer at XDA Developers said on March 26 that OnePlus is revamping its OnePlus X under a new series and on March 28 said that his source referred to it as OnePlus Z. Weinbach said that the hardware of the OnePlus Z matched with what was earlied leaked as a device named OnePlus 8 Lite.
It remains to be seen if OnePlus 8 Lite or OnePlus Z ends being launched due to the COVID-19 situation or if it gets delayed to the company’s releases in the second half of the year.
OnePlus 8 Series: Design and Rumored Specifications
Initial renders of the devices were released way back in October 2019 with the latest set of images released in April. The leaked images indicate some visible design changes at the front and at the rear of the phone with the most noticeable being the selfie camera at the front.
While the OnePlus 7 and 7T featured a waterdrop notch, the OnePlus 8 appears to feature an punch-hole design. The power, volume rocker and the USB Type-C all appear at its usual spots while the 3.5mm headphone jack continues to miss out. The phone is also said to feature an vertically aligned camera layout at the rear similar to OnePlus 7 while the OnePlus 7T featured a circular housing. The triple camera system seems to be retained on the OnePlus 8.
Meanwhile, the rear of the OnePlus 8 Pro is tipped to be almost identical to the OnePlus 7T Pro in terms of the camera layout. However, the front gets a radical departure from the pop-up selfie camera to the punch-hole design. It remains to be seen if OnePlus does speak about the radical departure from the pop-up selfie camera at its launch event tomorrow. The punch-hole design also means that the phone would lose the all-screen display and appear more in-line with the company’s sister brand Oppo’s flagship, the Find X2 Pro.
"A quality design and finish is striking at first sight, and truly admired if able to stand the test of time under different lighting and perspectives," Lau said on Twitter
Major features of the upcoming devices have already been tipped by the company including the presence of Snapdragon 865 processor, UFS 3.0 storage and LPDDR5 standard RAM. The company has also said that the phones would be 5G enabled and that it would support wireless charging with speeds up to 30W. Oneplus said that an user can charge the phones from 1% to 50% in 30 minutes.
Further, the company has also confirmed that the display would feature an 120Hz refresh rate and that it has received an A+ rating from DisplayMate. It was also said that the upcoming devices have matched or broken over 10 display performance records.
While OnePlus have extensively shared numerous details about the upcoming OnePlus devices, known leaker, Ishan Agarwal filled in with missing leaks. Agarwal said that the upcoming devices would include 8GB and 12GB RAM variants along with 128GB and 256GB storage.
The camera department on the OnePlus 8 Pro is said to feature an 48MP IMX689 as the main sensor while it would also include an 48MP ultrawide camera with IMX586 sensor capable of 120 degree field of view. Additionally, a new Night Portrait Mode and “3-HDR” video would be supported by OnePlus 8 Pro.
OnePlus 8 Series: Expected Indian Price And Availability
German website WinFuture in a report said that the OnePlus 8 Pro could be in the range of EUR 919 (Rs 76,323) and EUR 929 (Rs 77,153) for its 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant. The publication said that the higher spec variant featuring 12GB RAM and 256GB storage could be in the range of EUR 1,009 (Rs 83,797) and EUR 1,019 (Rs 84,628).
The OnePlus 8 is said to be priced around EUR 719 (Rs 59,713) and EUR 729 (Rs 60,543) for the base variant while the higher spec variant is said to be in the range of EUR 819 (Rs 68,018) and EUR 829 (Rs 68,848)
The devices are scheduled to be announced tomorrow through an online event while more details on when customers can purchase the stores are expected to be revealed during the event.
