As the OnePlus publicity machine winds up in advance of their biannual smartphone release, CEO Pete Lau has announced that the new range of phones will support 5G.
“This is a milestone both for OnePlus and our users. We’re proud to be among the first smartphone manufacturers to have full 5G line up for our next launch,” said OnePlus Founder and CEO Pete Lau. “OnePlus has achieved many firsts with 5G, and this time’s no exception.”
“We believe that following the dawn of the 5G era, the smartphone experience will go through a dramatic development,” Lau added. “5G’s low latency and enhanced cloud services will undoubtedly help us achieve a truly interconnected experience, while also providing exciting developments in areas like gaming, which are vitally important for OnePlus’ tech-savvy users.”
As a OnePlus owner (6T) this sounds like good news, though I maintain a dose of skepticism on 5G – we heard much of the same noise when 4G launched. Anyway, I imagine the new phones will be one of the more cost-effective ways of purchasing a 5G phone. However, it’s likely there will be some kind of price bump over the 7 series. In an interview with CNET, he said, “Last year we launched the 7 Pro and the 7 together and there was a lot of excitement around this,” Lau said. “I think that this year again everyone should expect a lot to look forward to in 5G products with a reasonable price.”
The new models weren’t confirmed in the interview but the expectation is that there will be an 8 and an 8 Pro. There are also persistent rumours about an 8 Lite which were neither confirmed or denied by the CEO and founder. From a subsequent tweet by Lau, it looks like the phones will be using the Qualcomm 5G chipset.
The grapevine has the launch pencilled in for mid-April. I imagine it will be an online event given the current spread of Covid-19.