OnePlus 5T rumor review: specs, design, features, price and release date
The OnePlus 5T is right around the corner.
Less than half a year after the release of the popular OnePlus 5, the device is no longer available for purchase and the company known for its "Never Settle" slogan, seems ready to unveil its next big thing, a phone with a "bezel-less", 18:9 screen and an improved camera.
So what do we know about the OnePlus 5T?
We sum up all the rumors about the next OnePlus, its specs, expected new features, design as well as price and release date information right below.
Design and Display
The OnePlus 5T is expected to be modeled after phones like the Oppo R11S and the Vivo X20. While those two devices are made for China by OnePlus sister companies, the 5T will have a true global launch.
The overall design styling carries over from the OnePlus 5 to the 5T: a metal back with very delicate, almost invisible crescent antenna lines, a curved back for more comfortable hold, and a very similar physical size.
The big change comes in the display: the new OnePlus is expected to come with a larger, "bezel-less" 6-inch OLED display with a 1080 x 2160 pixel resolution and an 18:9 aspect ratio. There will be no notch, no curves, nothing to distract from the pure rectangular screen. The new screen requires a new position for the fingerprint scanner as there is simply not enough space for it up front and OnePlus is moving it to the back of the phone, in a proper and easy to reach central position.
Here is a quick look at the expected OnePlus 5T specs:
| Specs | OnePlus 5T |
|---|---|
| Platform | Android 7.1.1 Nougat |
| Display | 6" 2160 x 1080 pixels, 18:9 OLED |
| Size | 156.1 x 75 x 7.3mm 5.7 oz (162 g) |
| System chip | Snapdragon 835, 2.45GHz 6GB / 8GB LPDDR4X RAM |
| Cameras | Rear: Dual cam (16MP main + 20MP night cam) Front: 16MP |
| Storage | 64GB / 128GB - no microSD |
| Battery | 3,300 mAh USB-C, Dash Charge |
Camera Improvements
The OnePlus 5 introduced a dual camera, but the new OnePlus 5T changes the set-up a bit: the secondary rear camera is no longer a "telephoto" lens, instead it has the same 27mm field of view as the main camera, but a different, 20MP sensor that will support some clever night shooting tricks, combining pixels together to have sharper, less noise low-light photos. You will still have Portrait mode as an option, but it will use the wide-angle camera to blur the background for that DSLR-like effect.
OnePlus top executives teased a few new photos captured on the camera of the OnePlus 5T and both are made in low light conditions, showing that there are some nice improvements in this area.
Other new features
First, good news: OnePlus will keep the good old, 3.5mm headphone jack on the 5T. OnePlus executives confirmed that they see the jack as a useful feature and removing it would cause a lot of inconvenience for users, hence, it stays.
The OnePlus is one of very few Android phones to come with a mute switch. The switch will stay on the 5T, and likely get some improvements in the way it functions.
On the software front, the 5T is expected to be the first OnePlus phone to support face recognition. We are still not certain whether this rumor will come true, and if it does, it will not be the 3D face scan that you get on the iPhone X.
What is not likely
Unfortunately, we do not expect the OnePlus 5T to feature any form of special water protection. This has been one of our top wishes for the next OnePlus phone, but no rumors so far suggest that OnePlus is ready to implement the feature.
Also, we don't expect to see dual speakers in the 5T. The OnePlus 5 had a very loud bottom-firing loudspeaker, but we have seen the iPhone 8 and Pixel 2 up the ante with dual speakers of better quality.
Finally, we don't think OnePlus will be quite ready to introduce the OnePlus 5T with Android 8.0 Oreo on board, but we do expect the phone to get updated to Oreo not long after its launch, in early 2018.
Price and Release Date
OnePlus has been steadily growing prices on its phones, but the latest rumors say that the OnePlus 5T will cost the same as its predecessor, the OnePlus 5.
The device is likely to come with two storage versions: a 64GB model with 6GB of RAM and a 128GB version with 8GB of RAM.
Official announcement date set for Nov 16th, price will be less than $600
Prices should look like this:
- 64GB / 6GB RAM model - $480 US / €500
- 128GB / 8GB RAM model - $540 US / €560
The OnePlus 5T release date is officially set for November 16th. The company will hold a big announcement event in New York City.
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