OnePlus may be already working on the ultimate compact flagship phone, but there’s a catch

While all eyes are focused on the OnePlus 16 and its rumored nearly bezel-less display, the Chinese company may be working on another very intriguing device. A new rumor claims that the OnePlus 16T is already in development and it may pack some exciting specs.

OnePlus is already working on its next compact flagship

OnePlus has already started the development process for the compact flagship 16T, according to a report (source in Chinese) from Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station. The device isn’t expected to launch until early next year, but it may feature a 6.3-inch display with an “ultra-high” refresh rate.

The smaller OnePlus device is reportedly going to have a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 processor on board, though it’s unclear if that will be the base or the Pro version of the chip. As the phone is in the early development stages, other specifications don’t seem to have been finalized yet.

Another victim of the OnePlus downfall  

As good as the OnePlus 16T may sound, it is very likely to fall victim to the company’s continuing issues and never make it outside of China. Last year’s OnePlus 13T was rebranded as the OnePlus 13s for the Indian market, but it never made it to the US and Europe. This year’s OnePlus 15T didn’t get even an Indian version.

Recently, OnePlus phones disappeared from the shelves at Best Buy in the US, following the reported April shutdown timeline for the company’s global operations. This is unlikely to stop the company from equipping the OnePlus 16T with truly impressive specs.

This year’s OnePlus 15T came with a 6.32-inch AMOLED display with a 165Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, and up to 1TB storage and up to 512GB of RAM. Despite the relatively small size, the phone packs a 7,500 mAh battery with 100W wired charging support.

On the bright side, you can still grab the OnePlus 15 in the US, and there’s even a really nice deal available for it. You can get it with a $100 discount and enjoy the 6.8-inch flagship with 7,300 mAh battery and 80W charging support.

Nothing like it in the US

If we assume that the OnePlus 16T will improve on the OnePlus 15T’s specs, it may get an even larger battery, alongside the faster display and the impressive charging speeds. That would put it well above the iPhone 17, Galaxy S26, and Pixel 10.

In fact, even the top-tier flagship phones from Samsung, Apple, and Google can’t compare with the battery size and charging speeds of the smaller OnePlus phones. While nothing new, the difference is becoming more disappointing by the day.

We need more competition

The way things went for OnePlus on the global smartphone market made it obvious that pure specs are not enough to beat Samsung and Apple. However, I still believe that the mere presence of such mighty competitors could push the market leaders to improve faster. That’s why I really hope we get something like the OnePlus 16T outside of China.

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