The Chinese manufacturer’s next release, the OnePlus 7 was spotted in a new leak in China. The phone was seen protected in some sort of casing to hide most of the design and aesthetic, and it was seen positioned beside the predecessor of this phone, the OnePlus 6T. However, even with the protective casing of the device, there are some things that we have been able to identify. There is undoubtedly no display notch on the OnePlus 7 this time. Instead, the phone appears to be sporting a sliding mechanism. Also, a lot of people expected that the OnePlus 7 would get the punch-hole style cut for housing the front camera, but even that seems to have been ditched by the Chinese OEM.
Likely to Have Thinner Bezels and Slider
The leaked image first appeared on CoolAPK but was since deleted. However, a Slashleak contributor spotted the picture before it was deleted. In the leaked image, we get to see the OnePlus 7 kept beside the OnePlus 6T and both are held in a protective casing. The first thing to notice in the OnePlus 7 is the earpiece grille which seems to be similar to the one present on the OnePlus 6T. The protective casing does hide the bezels and the edges of the phone so, there no solid hint about how thin the bezels on the OnePlus 7 are going to be. Also, while the OnePlus 6T can be seen fashioning the waterdrop notch, the OnePlus 7’s screen stretches all the way to the top giving no sign of a notch. Interestingly, there is a cut-out on the protective casing above the OnePlus 7’s top edge hinting towards a slider mechanism which when slid up will fill up the currently empty space on the case.
It is worth noting that other brands in the past have implemented the slider mechanism in their phones and they have done it quite successfully. OnePlus seems to be taking the same approach. Before this, we have seen Oppo implementing a motorised slider mechanism in its Find X. Whereas, Xiaomi has implemented the mechanical slider in its Mi Mix 3. Owing to the slider design, both of these phones were able to eliminate the bezels from this phone significantly.
OnePlus 5G Smartphone and Upcoming Releases
OnePlus has also revealed that it will be launching two new smartphones in the first half of this year, unlike its previous launches. One out of these two phones will be a 5G device as announced by OnePlus, and it will bear a different branding. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has also announced that the 5G smartphone by the brand will be at least $200-$300 costlier than the OnePlus 6T. Further, about the OnePlus 7, the company CEO revealed back in December at the Qualcomm Snapdragon summit that the phone would pack the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC.
