OnePlus 9 prototype leak reveals design — and it just sold for $6,000

A OnePlus 9 prototype has apparently sold on eBay for $6,000, and the listing has provided a few new glimpses at the upcoming smartphone.

The prototype was originally listed on the auction site for $3,000, the “owner” being the source of a major photo and screenshot leak to PhoneArena, but was later relisted with personally identifiable information removed.

The main bounty from the newer but since-deleted listing is a handful of photos that weren’t part of the original PhoneArena leak, including a couple with specs visible on its screen instead of listed in a screenshot, which would be easier to fake.

These images corroborate a number of rumored details, including the OnePlus 9 running OxygenOS on top of Android 11 and featuring 8GB of memory combined with 128GB of storage. The eBay listing also confirms that the phone will use Qualcomm’s top-end Snapdragon 888 chip.

This is all on top of previously leaked OnePlus 9 specs, such as a larger 4,500 mAh battery and a triple camera array comprised of a 50MP main lens, 20MP wide-angle lens and a 12MP telephoto sensor.

The prototype also appears to connect to 5G, so the OnePlus 9 should include 5G as standard like the OnePlus 8 did. This would also make for a reason to buy the flagship model and not the also-rumored OnePlus 9 Lite, a cheaper variant with the slower Snapdragon 865 processor.

Obviously, being a prototype, the design of the leaked OnePlus 9 is subject to change, though that hasn’t stopped someone from blowing $6,000 to get it early. Not that this sale is likely to go off without a hitch, though; OnePlus won’t be at all pleased that its prototype has ended up on eBay, and since the phone has what appears to be a serial number clearly visible in the photographs, it probably won’t be too long until the seller is tracked down.