OnePlus 10 is getting the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor

Among them is the CEO of big-time Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus, Pete Lau, who has just announced that the company's 2022 flagship will be using just this processor, keeping international competition on its toes. 

While Lau didn't explicitly call out the "OnePlus 10 Pro" in his announcement, what he delivered in today's statement was that "OnePlus' next-generation new products will be the first to be equipped with a new generation of Snapdragon 8." 

But with the OnePlus 10 Pro being the next top-of-the-line flagship expected by the company, it's pretty clear that he was talking about no other phone but that, and perhaps the standard OnePlus 10 version as well.

OnePlus has presented some very serious competition to rival manufacturers such as Xiaomi and Huawei over the past years, with the company offering an annual upgrade not only to its flagship OnePlus line, but regularly updating the OnePlus Nord series as well—its most popular mid-range series that is both very budget-friendly and reliable.

This will be Snapdragon's most advanced 5G mobile platform yet, whose upgraded router will allow phones equipped with it to reach massive 10-Gigabit download speeds.

Flagships with this SoC will be able to house better camera specs than ever as well, as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 introduces the first commercially sold 18-bit mobile IPS, or image signal processor.

The processor has also got a next-gen built-in AI engine, allowing manufacturers and developers to keep innovating in the field of mobile artificial intelligence. 

Many other manufacturers have already confirmed they will be using the new Qualcomm mobile platform, particularly for the Xiaomi 12 series, the Moto Edge X30, the Realme GT 2 Pro, the Oppo Find X4, and likely others in the future.

Although there's still quite a few months left until the spring launch of the OnePlus 10 series, we already have a pretty good idea of what to expect specs-wise.

As per tradition, we're expecting two variants in the new series: a baseline OnePlus 10, and a OnePlus 10 Pro version. Just like in the past years, there might also be a OnePlus 10R model, but that's usually limited to the Indian market.

Of course, as we just found out, we're expecting at least the OnePlus 10 Pro version to be powered exclusively by the top-of-the-tier Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, which should have more efficient power consumption to allow faster and smoother performance, as well as new AI capabilities and camera specs. We still can't say for sure about the standard OnePlus 10 variant, however.

The OnePlus 10 Pro screen will probably feature a giant 6.7" QHD+ curved display built into an LTPO panel, offering a lightning-fast 120Hz refresh rate. We're also expecting at least two RAM options, namely 8GB and 12GB RAM (both LPDDR5), along with UFS 3.1 flash storage.

Last but not least, the OnePlus 10 Pro will likely sport a 5,000 mAh battery that will possibly support 125W charging, although it's still not certain if it will actually get more than the current 50W charging. Oh, and it's got an IP68 rating, too—meaning it's dustproof and waterproof at up to 1.5 meters of depth.

As for cameras, the upcoming handset will likely have a triple-shooter on the back, with lens of 48MP, 50MP, and 8MP on the back, with macrophotography capability included.

OnePlus has made a habit of releasing its flagship around the month of April every year, and we have no reason to expect anything different in 2022. That means there are only about four to five months left until the OnePlus 10 sees the light of day.