Everything we know about the OnePlus 6T
Sorry, OnePlus 6: you're about to be replaced
ANOTHER ONEPLUS BITES THE DUST
OnePlus phones reliably find a slot somewhere near the top of our best smartphones list, and that’s true again: the OnePlus 6 is sitting pretty at #2. But it will be replaced very soon. Well, probably: OnePlus has done a half-year revision for each of its last two flagship phones, and rumours are already pointing to the incoming arrival of the OnePlus 6T. Apologies to anyone who just bought the thing. (We can’t imagine you’re disappointed, but still.) How can OnePlus possibly top the OnePlus 6 after just a few months on the market? Here’s what we’ve heard so far about what to expect, when to expect it, and how much you might pay for it.
WHEN WILL THE ONEPLUS 6T BE OUT?
The OnePlus 6 released in May, about a month earlier than the company usually drops its main numbered flagship each year, and the OnePlus 6T should also drop a month earlier than the usual revision. According to a report from CNET, the OnePlus 6T will release in October, while the OnePlus 5T and OnePlus 3T both had November debuts, respectively. CNET suggests that OnePlus will partner with carrier T-Mobile for its U.S. release, but that the global unlocked version will still release at the same time.
HOW MUCH WILL THE ONEPLUS 6T COST?
CNET reports that the OnePlus 6T is tentatively priced at US$550 – a bump up from the US$529 price of the OnePlus 6. In the UK, the OnePlus 6 is priced at £469, so we might be looking at something like £489 for the OnePlus 6T. The OnePlus 5T didn’t increase in price from the OnePlus 5, but the OnePlus 3T saw a solid rise. It really depends on what OnePlus is adding or changing here…
WHAT WILL THE ONEPLUS 6T LOOK LIKE?
OnePlus usually doesn’t go for any significant overhaul with the revision model, although last year’s OnePlus 5T swapped in an extra-tall screen when that started being the trend amongst high-end handsets. Rumours suggest other options, however. One suggests that the OnePlus 6T will resemble the Oppo R17 (pictured), a highly attractive new phone with a smaller, curvier notch at the top. This unofficial concept video by Concept Creator shows what that mash-up of the R17 and OnePlus 6 could look like, if true. Another rumour suggests no notch at all, with a pop-up camera instead. We’d say the R17-based rumour is the more likely of the two; that’s a change more befitting of a mainline model release. Even so, a significant aesthetic shift like this still seems like it’d be a weird move for a phone coming five months after the main device release.
HOW MUCH POWER WILL THE ONEPLUS 6T PACK?
The OnePlus 6 is already top-of-the-line when it comes to Samsung phones, and unless Qualcomm surprises us with a new chip this autumn, the 6T should stick with what’s already there. That, of course, is the Snapdragon 845 chip also seen in several other major Android handsets of late, with 6GB and 8GB RAM variants. That’s a lot of power to play with, and we don’t see how OnePlus would be able to one-up that after just a few months.
WHAT KIND OF CAMERAS WILL THE ONEPLUS 6T HAVE?
The cameras are the key difference between the OnePlus 6 and our #1 phone, the triple-camera packing Huawei P20 Pro (pictured). But that’s also why there’s £300+ between them. Given that, we’d be very surprised to see OnePlus try to tack on another back camera or do anything too wild with the dual-camera setup of the OnePlus 6. OnePlus phones have already shot up in price over the last couple years, but still compare favourably to top-end flagships. Any significant price increase would take away that unique selling point. All that said, the OnePlus 6’s setup is pretty good: you get a 16-megapixel main camera and 20MP secondary camera, both at f/1.7, and they take fine snaps in most scenarios. Photos are punchy and detailed, and handle skin tones well. With that in mind, we suspect any tweaks will be very, very modest.
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE ONEPLUS 6T?
SlashGear suggests that there might be just one model with 128GB internal storage onboard, whereas the OnePlus 6 has 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB models. More base starting storage could make the OnePlus 6T more appealing, but we’d think OnePlus would still want to offer a higher-capacity option for bigger spenders. Also, CNET suggests that the T-Mobile version of the phone in the U.S. will be optimised for the carrier’s purportedly faster 600 megahertz spectrum band, so that could be a nice win for both T-Mobile and OnePlus fans if true.
