The Galaxy S20 may be the most exciting phone of the first quarter of the year, but it’ll hardly be the only new Android phone worthy of your attention in the coming months. In fact, given the high price tag attached to all three S20 models, you might want to steer clear of Samsung’s newest smartphone line and go for a cheaper alternative from China. No, not Huawei’s P40 Pro, although that’s also going to be exciting as well. Huawei is banned in the US, and getting its flagship handsets might be an annoying chore.
OnePlus, on the other hand, is one of China’s most popular smartphone brands — one that’s already available in the US, directly from the manufacturer and from its partners. OnePlus is readying a brand new smartphone that will compete directly against the S20 series, and the specs for it have already leaked.
The OnePlus 8 series will come with 120Hz displays, just like Samsung’s Galaxy S20. That much the company’s CEO confirmed a few weeks ago, in typical OnePlus fashion. Revealing specs in anticipation of the phone’s launch is a marketing ploy OnePlus has been using for years. But the company only detailed the phone’s high refresh rate screen without confirming other specs.
The internet is already buzzing with OnePlus 8 rumors, however. One of them says the OnePlus 8 Pro will pack a 6.5-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, Snapdragon 865 processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB/256GB of storage, 4,500 mAh battery, and 50W fast charging. That final detail is quite exciting, but also troublesome. On the one hand, the phone will charge faster than many of its rivals, and faster than previous OnePlus handsets. On the other hand, faster wired charging is a perfect excuse for OnePlus not to add wireless charging to the phone. However, this is just a leak, and it doesn’t address wireless charging to begin with.
Separately, a photo of an alleged OnePlus 8 phone reveals some more of the handset’s specs. This time around, we’re looking at the cheaper OnePlus 8 phone, which will apparently feature a 6.55-inch 90Hz Fluid AMOLED screen with a hole-punch selfie camera. The photo also reveals the camera setup of the handset — we’re looking at a triple-lens camera module featuring 48-, 16-, and 2-megapixel lenses:
It’s likely the OnePlus 8 will have the same design and core set of features as the Pro model, which means you’ll get the same Snapdragon 865 chip, likely paired with 8GB of storage and at least 128GB of flash memory. That’s the same speedy 5G-enabled chipset that will power the Galaxy S20 and other 2020 flagships.
Both phones should run Android 10 out of the gate, and will probably be among the first handsets to support Android 11 when the beta comes out later this year. It’s unclear, however, when OnePlus will unveil the new smartphones. The company usually unveils its first phone series of the year in the second quarter, but a known leaker said last week that the handset might be unveiled in late March or April.
The coronavirus, however, might derail these plans, as the virus is still highly contagious in China, and the measures the Chinese government is taking to prevent the spread of the disease may impact smartphone manufacturing, OnePlus included.
