Why OnePlus 6 at Rs 36,999 could be a winner
It's that time of the year again. Chinese smartphone maker, OnePlus, is set to launch the first of its two flagships for the calendar year. Sticking to its strategy of biannual flagship releases, the company is ready to unveil its latest flagship, OnePlus 6, on May 17 in India.
The new device is rumoured to bring a new design scheme with it, one that will see an iPhone style notch on the display and glass at the back of the phone. The move will come as a blow to the still highly popular OnePlus 5T, which would see itself being relegated to a lower spot in the league and left looking obsolete just months after its launch.
However, if latest reports are to be believed, the new phone will differ from the current generation OnePlus device in one crucial aspect; the price. As per a report by Tru Tech, the smartphone will initially be available in two variants, with the 64GB storage one available at a price of Rs 36,999 while the 128GB variant available for 39,999.
If this indeed ends up being the price, this bump in rates would take OnePlus 6 closer to the pricing of devices in the premium segment. However, despite being so, this will be a very aggressive price for a phone that could arguably give many expensive flagships a good run for their money. Ahead of its launch, let's take a look at why the phone could become a hit.
Design and display
Over the years, Chinese smartphone maker, OnePlus has been known for creating phones that pack within their frames the fastest and the most powerful hardware available. Though, when it comes to the design and aesthetics of the frame itself, OnePlus hasn't really impressed much.
With the 5T, however, OnePlus tried to change the perception by slapping on its new phone an edge-to-edge display that greatly improved the looks of the device. If rumours and teasers by OnePlus are anything to go by, the company could further improve on the strategy this year.
For starters, OnePlus 6 will adopt the latest fad that's sweeping the smartphone industry, an iPhone X style display notch. Though many find the inclusion of a notch on the next OnePlus device an abhorrent idea, there are also others who think that it is a design feature that will add to the looks of the phone.
For those subscribing to the former school of thought, the device thankfully will come with a notch that won't be as big as the one found on the iPhone X.
Another big change to the front of the phone will be the inclusion of a bigger display. As the company has confirmed already, the OnePlus 6 would sport the biggest screen on a OnePlus smartphone yet. Although the exact size of the display is not known yet, don't expect it to be more than 6.2inch in size.
At the back, OnePlus 6 will again bring some major changes on board as the company finally moves away from a metal back to a more appealing glass body.
Improved camera
Another issue that has plagued OnePlus phones is its average camera performance. With the OnePlus 6 that could also change.
In terms of the specs, we are likely to see an improvement on the camera set-up that was seen on the 5T. As per the rumours, the phone is expected to sport the same 20 megapixel+16 megapixel dual camera set-up that was seen on the OnePlus 5T but with significant upgrades in the technology being used in the current generation device. As for the front, the selfie camera is reported to feature a 20MP sensor of f/2.0 aperture size.
Under the hood
The OnePlus 6 will also improve significantly in terms of the internals that it packs under the hood. Compared to the OnePlus 5T which came with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, the new phone has been confirmed to have at its heart Snapdragon's latest 845 SoC.
Built using four Kryo 385 Gold cores, the CPU would provide for 10-20 per cent bump in performance and up to 30 per cent boost in efficieny. The SoC also houses the Adreno 630 GPU which again should provide almost 30 per cent jump in performance during graphics-intensive tasks.
The SoC will be paired with the same 6GB and 8GB RAM configurations from last year, while the storage options will also remain the same – 64GB and 128GB. Keeping the lights running on could be a 3,450mAh battery pack with OnePlus' Dash Charge capabilities.
The phone is also expected to retain the headphone jack that was seen in the OnePlus 5T. Earlier, a leaked image posted by tipster Evan Blass confirmed that the OnePlus 6 will retain the headphone jack. Carl Pei posted a poll on Twitter a while early asking fans to vote on whether they prefer the jack or not, and the result was unanimously for the headphone jack.