What you need to know
- A new leak suggests that the OnePlus 10 will arrive in the second half of 2022.
- The leak also reveals that OnePlus is testing two different chipsets for the phone.
- It's possible that this could be the first flagship OnePlus phone to not feature an alert slider.
At MWC 2022, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau that the company's flagship lineup would only be limited to the OnePlus 10 Pro. Initially, it was thought that OnePlus is going to move its focus to the Nord lineup of products, including the recently-announced Nord N20 5G. However, a new leak coming from Digit India (via @OnLeaks) claims that there will, in fact, be a "vanilla" OnePlus 10.
According to this latest leak, part of the reason why the standard OnePlus 10 has yet to be revealed is because the company is testing two different versions of the phone. One variant is said to be powered by an unknown flagship Qualcomm chipset, while the other is making use of the MediaTek 9000 processor.
Whichever processor OnePlus decides to proceed with is said to be paired with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of onboard storage. It's expected that the OnePlus 10 will use a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a variable 120Hz refresh rate thanks to the use of an LTPO 2.0 panel. This is the same display panel we've seen used on some of the best Android phones to be released so far in 2022, including the Galaxy S22 Ultra and OnePlus 10 Pro.
Moving to the camera hardware, the OnePlus 10 will stick with a 50MP main (wide-angle) camera, along with a 16MP ultra-wide lens and a 2MP macro sensor. This is just one area where OnePlus has seemingly decided to cut down on costs, as the OnePlus 10 Pro sports a 48MP / 50MP / 8MP camera combination. On the front, it's said that OnePlus will upgrade the selfie camera, using a 32MP sensor and we wouldn't be surprised if it was the same lens as the one found on the 10 Pro.
Other specs provided in this latest leak include the use of a 4,800mAh cell, which is just a slight downgrade compared to the 5,000mAh cell in the flagship 10 Pro. But the real story here comes via the charging speeds. With the OnePlus 10 Pro, the phone is capable of reaching speeds of up to 80W, while that is capped at 65W here in the U.S. According to Digit India and @OnLeaks, the OnePlus 10 will be able to provide up to 150W charging speeds, almost double that of the more-expensive version. Unfortunately, it's unknown whether this will be available on all versions of the phone, or if it will be region-specific with lower charging speeds in different regions.
Last, but certainly not least, this leak claims that OnePlus will be removing the iconic alert slider. If this is the case, the OnePlus 10 will be the first flagship OnePlus phone to launch without this hardware slider. For years, this has been one of the key reasons to pick up a OnePlus phone over the competition, as you can switch between the different sound modes on your phone without actually unlocking your phone.
While we were hoping to see some more in regards to what the phone would look like, it seems that we'll just have to keep waiting a bit longer. But the prospect of a OnePlus 10 actually being released is exciting, even if you'll have to deal with a few compromises.
The OnePlus 10 Pro attempts to represent the best that OnePlus has to offer in the flagship space. The phone offers a beautiful 120Hz display, a triple camera setup, and plenty of power.
