The OnePlus 9 likely won’t arrive until spring 2021, but thanks to some photos published by PhoneArena, we won’t have to wait that long for a glimpse of it. The images are of an alleged prototype device complete with unique pre-prod branding, and some software screengrabs reveal a little extra detail about the upcoming flagship.
First up: the screen. It looks like OnePlus will stick with the flat screen format it used in the OnePlus 8 and 8T – the 9 has a flat 6.55-inch display with a hole punch camera in the upper left corner. The OnePlus 8 Pro’s screen features a design that curves around the edges of the phone, which we found lead to more accidental touches than occurred with the flat version. PhoneArena reports that the 9’s screen is a 2400 x 1080 panel with 120Hz refresh rate.
The pre-prod device also looks to include a Snapdragon 888 processor, the chipset of choice for 2021 flagship phones. And that leads into another previously leaked OnePlus 9 feature: 5G.
As for imaging hardware, the images show a camera bump pushed to the upper left corner of the device’s rear. There’s also new “Ultrashot” branding on the bump not seen on previous models, though it may or may not remain on the final device. The specs gleaned from this early look don’t give away exact details about camera sensor resolution or focal length, but it seems likely that two of the rear cameras seen in these photos will be standard wide and ultrawide modules. The third could be a macro or depth-sensing camera.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22170084/oneplus_9_leak_4.png)
Other details include a 4500 mAh battery, Android 11 with Oxygen OS, and a version with 128GB storage and 8GB RAM (there will likely be an option with a different memory configuration). There’s no confirmed launch date for the OnePlus 9, but the company’s schedule for past releases — and the timing of this leak — mean early spring 2021 looks likely.
