HIGHLIGHTS:
1) OnePlus 5T launching November 16 in New York City
2) It is said to be the first all-screen smartphone from OnePlus
3) CEO Pete Lau has teased that it will be priced under CNY 4,000
4) OnePlus 5T price in India may cross the Rs. 40,000-mark
The OnePlus 5T launch event, scheduled for November 16, is just days away and the company has been on overdrive mode to create hype around the handset. Certain features of the next flagship, such as the presence of 3.5 audio jack and absence of wireless charging, have already been confirmed by the brand, while the OnePlus 5T price cap has been teased too. The all-screen successor to the OnePlus 5 will be launched in New York City, and will become available in India via a flash sale on November 21, followed wider availability from November 21. We take a look at what you can expect from the next OnePlus flagship, going by the official confirmations as well as the leaks so far.
OnePlus 5T price in India
Starting off with the OnePlus 5T price, the company's CEO Pete Lau has hinted that the handset will cost less than CNY 4,000 (approximately Rs. 39,000). This may mean that the upcoming handset may not be priced too high compared to the 8GB RAM variant of the OnePlus 5, though duties and other levies may push the price beyond the Rs. 40,000-mark in India.
However, a recent report - citing confidential documentation from telecom carrier O2 - claims that the OnePlus 5T price would be the same as that of its predecessor. It may just be that the company plans to phase out the 8GB RAM variant of OnePlus 5 and replace it with the 5T model, but we will have to wait till November 16 what the plan really is. In China, the 8GB RAM variant of OnePlus 5 is priced at CNY 3,499, while it costs $539 in the US and Rs. 37,999 in India.
OnePlus 5T specifications, design, features
The company has been heavily teasing the OnePlus 5T on social media and has confirmed few features. One of them is presence of the headphone jack. Lau also confirmed the name of the handset weeks ahead of the launch. Previously, OnePlus tweeted a teaser image pointing to the 3.5mm jack-equipped OnePlus 5T, seemingly confirming its presence. The availability of the audio jack would make it one of the few flagships that still offer the port, given the iPhone and Pixel 2 range have done away with it. Going by the company's naming, OnePlus has given the alphabet "T" to distinguish the new upgrades to its existing flagships. The company last year unveiled the OnePlus 3T as the new version of the OnePlus 3.
CEO Lau has also revealed the upcoming phone will not feature wireless charging, and users will have to settle with Dash Charge fast-charging. The company says the current wireless charging pads offer support a maximum of 15 watts of power, while Dash Charge goes up to 20 watts. Moreover, with wireless charging pads, the phone must be kept on the pad to charge, which means the user cannot use it play games or make calls and simultaneously charging it.
Going by some teaser images and leaks, the OnePlus 5T will be the company's first smartphone to sport a bezel-less display with 18:9 aspect ratio. The thin bezels will shift the capsule-shaped fingerprint scanner to the back of the device. The smartphone is likely to have a portrait mode to capture images with bokeh effect.
Some leaked images of the OnePlus 5T have also highlighted the absence of the home button at the front that has been a part of the OnePlus series since the OnePlus 2 launch in July 2015.
OnePlus co-founders Carl Pei and Pete Lau have been also teasing the camera on the new smartphone. The teasers have tipped a top-notch camera experience on the OnePlus 5T. The executives posted some camera samples that were supposed to have been captured from the new smartphone.
If rumours are to be believed then the OnePlus 5T will come with an upgraded dual-camera setup that would include optical image stabilisation (OIS) and a larger set of image sensors than what was featured on the OnePlus 5 earlier this year.
Prolific phone tipster Evan Blass had shared an image claiming to show the top front panel of the upcoming smartphone. Going by some media reports, the OnePlus 5T is also believed to be the flagship OnePlus 5's mid-cycle upgrade.
OnePlus 5T was listed by a Chinese retailer weeks before any official announcement. The leaked retailer listing claimed some of the specifications, such as 6-inch Quad-HD screen with 18:9 aspect ratio and it is said to be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC clocked at up to 2.45GHz. It is likely to come in 6GB and 8GB RAM options with 64GB and 128GB storage respectively. On the camera front, the handset is said to sport a 20-megapixel rear camera coupled with another 16-megapixel sensor, making it a dual camera setup at the back. It is also said to have a 16-megapixel front camera.
These specifications all match with OnePlus 5; however, differences include a larger 3450mAh battery and a larger 6-inch display, while with some reports claiming a full-HD+ resolution of 1080x2160 pixels. It is also thicker than the OnePlus 5, weighing in at 164 grams. The thickness is said to be identical at 7.25mm, but the phone will be slightly wider and taller at 157x75.4mm. The handset is rumoured to support global 4G LTE bands and support 34 network bands.
OnePlus 5T also made an appearance at the AnTuTu benchmark suggesting the OnePlus A5010 model name, and listing similar specifications apart from a 20-megapixel front camera, and a boost of the rear camera. The presence of Android 8.0 Oreo on the OnePlus 5T is expected to make the overall package an attractive piece of hardware.
The Chinese company is heavily stressing on the fact that the community was involved in a large way when it comes to the OnePlus 5T development. We can believe that the company took the feedback from customers and has worked to improve some features. The company few weeks back faced some solid backlash when it was accused of collecting unanonymised analytics data from its users. The company, however, took no time to introduce a new "opt-in" option for the user experience program.
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