OnePlus 9 design just leaked — first look at Galaxy S21 rival

The OnePlus 8T may only just have been released, even if it remains tough to get for American shoppers. But it looks like the Chinese company is well on its way to working on the OnePlus 9, the next flagship phone coming in 2021.

91mobiles has got hold of CAD renders of the upcoming OnePlus 9, and it unsurprisingly seems to take many of its design cues from the previous model, including a flat display, corner camera bump and hole-punch selfie camera in the top left-hand corner of the screen. 

But there are differences of course. For one thing, the site says the handset will feature a larger display than the 8T, which itself wasn’t exactly small at 6.55-inches. The camera bump looks a little smaller too, more reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy Note 20.

There’s not much else to take from the picture, though it looks like the company will continue with the in-screen fingerprint reader — a staple of OnePlus devices since the OnePlus 6T — and you’ll be looking at a triple-camera array with LED flash.

It’s worth noting that in recent years, OnePlus has launched with two versions of its handsets: a regular model, and a Pro edition. The CAD render above is purely for the regular model, and it’s possible that the Pro version will have a more radical design or more cameras.

91mobiles’ source only has two tidbits in terms of specs: first, as mentioned above, that it will be larger than the 6.55-inch OnePlus 8T, and second that it will feature a 120Hz refresh rate display. That’s perhaps unsurprising, given the 8T shared this display spec, but an earlier rumor suggested OnePlus might be pushing things to 144Hz, and it seems that’s not the case after all. 

Based on previous rumors the OnePlus 9 will arrive in March 2021, and will likely be powered by Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 875 SoC, backed by at least 8GB RAM. We’re also hopeful that the 64-megapixel camera sensor originally rumored for the OnePlus 8T will find its way into the OnePlus 9. The phone will likely have support for 65W fast charging, and run an Android 11 based version of the company’s own OxygenOS.   

Pricing is still up in the air, and OnePlus has been gradually increasing the cost of its handsets in recent years. But with Samsung said to be jumping the gun and releasing the Galaxy S21 in January, hopefully OnePlus will be extra aware of the need to be competitive when its new phones land two months later.