Verizon may release the OnePlus 8 5G as its first OnePlus phone
Verizon Wireless might soon launch its very first smartphone made by OnePlus. In September last year, we heard that this smartphone could be the OnePlus 8 Pro. However, according to a new report from Android Police, Verizon may actually release the non-pro version of said device, simply dubbed OnePlus 8.
Assuming that this new report is accurate, Verizon is bound to become the third US carrier to launch a OnePlus handset, after T-Mobile (currently selling the OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren) and Sprint (currently offering the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G).
A few existing OnePlus phones are already compatible with Verizon, but they're not directly sold by the carrier - you can only buy them unlocked.
It's said that Verizon's OnePlus 8 will be 5G-ready, thus allowing users to access the carrier's newest high-speed network. This will be just one of the around twenty 5G smartphones that Verizon is planning to introduce throughout 2020.
OnePlus 8 specs and design
Renders allegedly showing the OnePlus 8 (included in this article) have been first published a bit over 2 months ago. When viewed from the back, the upcoming phone resembles the OnePlus 7T Pro. But its front is a bit different, hosting a punch-hole camera à la Samsung Galaxy S10.
Reportedly, the OnePlus 8 sports a curved 6.5-inch 1080p display and measures 160.2 x 72.9 x 8.1 mm. This would make it a bit smaller than the last handset launched by OnePlus stateside - the aforementioned 7T Pro, which measures 162.6 x 75.9 x 8.8 mm.
Like almost all OnePlus phones before it, the OnePlus 8 will be a high-end device. Most probably, it will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor (this hasn't been announced yet), 8 GB of RAM, and at least 128 GB of internal memory.
The upcoming handset could also feature wireless charging - in a first for a OnePlus phone. With or without wireless charging, the battery of the OnePlus 8 should be a 4000 mAh one.
There are no details about the triple rear camera of the OnePlus 8, but we assume this will be able to deliver nice photos and videos. It's likely that a telephoto camera (for optical zoom) and a wide-angle camera are included in this triple setup.
OnePlus 8 price and release date
The OnePlus 8 is expected to be announced and released sometime in the second quarter of this year, so customers should be able to buy it no later than June. Of course, nothing is certain at this point.
Some preliminary official information regarding the OnePlus 8 could be revealed next week. More exactly, we may hear about the handset's screen, which is rumored to have a 120Hz refresh rate. This would be a step up from the 90Hz refresh rate of the screens found inside OnePlus' 2019 phones, although users may not notice a clear difference between these refresh rates.
At the moment, there is no word on how much Verizon's OnePlus 8 will cost. But we do know that 5G handsets are more expensive than non-5G models - for example, the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren is currently priced at $899.99, being the most expensive OnePlus phone to date. That being said, we are expecting the OnePlus 8 5G to cost around $700 - $800 at Verizon.
The OnePlus 8 could have two siblings
A (cheaper) OnePlus 8 Lite might be introduced alongside the regular OnePlus 8 and the (more expensive) OnePlus 8 Pro. For now, though, it's unclear if the Lite and Pro models will be officially sold by US carriers. If not, they will probably be available unlocked anyway.
If you're a Verizon customer, are you excited about the possibility of purchasing a OnePlus smartphone from your carrier?
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