The OnePlus 4 rumors are increasing in volume, and we’ve got everything you need to know.
The OnePlus 4 is expected to arrive in the coming months, as the Chinese startup looks to continue to buck the high-price flagship trend.
OnePlus has managed to consistently stand out from the crowd by offering high-end hardware at a mid-range price.
But even to say that undersells its achievements. The company often out-specs rivals with its ‘Never Settle’ mantra and clearly puts time and thought into its phones, yet still manages to sell them for less.
All of that is true of the OnePlus 3T, which has a massive 6GB of RAM, along with a premium build and high-end specs throughout, all for just $439, £399 (around AU$580) .
It’s a remarkable phone then, but it’s not perfect and we’ve come up with a wish list of things (on page 2) that we want to see for the inevitable OnePlus 4, or the OnePlus 5 as there’s a chance it might be called.
Why 5? The number 4 is a sign of bad luck in China, which may see the firm skip a number and go straight to the OnePlus 5. It would also, technically, be the fifth flagship phone with the OnePlus 3T taking the fourth generation spot.
You’ll find all the latest news and rumors about the OnePlus 4 on this page, along with speculation and analysis to fill in the gaps.
The OnePlus One launched in April 2014, the OnePlus 2 in July 2015 and the OnePlus 3 in June 2016.
It’s more than likely then, that the OnePlus 4 will land in mid-2017, to keep the Chinese firm on the annual rotation of new handsets which is commonplace in the mobile industry.
The November launch of the OnePlus 3T (essentially a slightly upgraded OnePlus 3) has muddled things a bit, but it’s unlikely we’ll be waiting until November 2017 for the OnePlus 4.
Weibo tipster i ice universe claims a June or July OnePlus 4 launch, while another Weibo source reckons we’ll see it in June, and a store listing claims the phone will ship in early June, though that could all easily be guesswork.
What can we expect from the OnePlus 4/OnePlus 5? There aren’t many rumors right now, but fortunately we like to guess and by looking at trends and upcoming technologies we can round down the likely specs and features of the phone.
So that’s exactly what we’ve done, split up into sections below, so you can find out all about the likely screen, design or whatever else you might be curious about. These sections will all be updated as and when any new rumors roll in.
The OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T have a 5.5-inch 1080 x 1920 display, just like the OnePlus 2 and the OnePlus One. Given how staunchly the company has stuck to that size and resolution combination it’s tempting to think it will do the same with the OnePlus 4, and that’s certainly possible.
In fact, one tipster has said exactly that, and also shared the image below, showing the phone with an edge-to-edge display.
But we reckon OnePlus might push the resolution up to 1440 x 2560, and that possibility has also been rumored, with talk of a 5.3-inch screen of that resolution, while another source points to a 5.5-inch QHD display.
The resolution of the screen on the OnePlus 3T is one of its few faults and one of the only areas you can really point to and say that’s where the company cut corners.
To make an impact next year it’s likely to push the resolution up, especially since by then just about every flagship is likely to have a QHD or higher resolution screen.
But why do we need to push resolution above 1080p on such a small screen? Two letters: VR. Virtual Reality was big in 2016, even OnePlus has got in on the act launching the OnePlus 3 in VR (and the OnePlus 2 in 2015) , but for the best experiences you need a high resolution display.
A 2K screen would improve the VR experience on the OnePlus 4, as well as giving a boost to movies and gaming.
The rumored drop in size to 5.3 inches is more surprising. OnePlus only makes one or two phones a year and while there’s no such thing as one size fits all the company is going to want to get close.
Big phones are growing in popularity and it’s done well with the 5.5-inch size point, so we’d be surprised if it really gets any smaller, but any bigger pushes it into phablet territory, which is a relatively niche market.
We may see a move from AMOLED back to LCD though, as OnePlus is reportedly struggling to source enough AMOLED panels to keep up with OnePlus 3 demand. Then again, the first OnePlus 4 rumors point to AMOLED still.
The first design rumors suggest we could see a big change in the look of the OnePlus 4, with apparently a glass body in place of the OnePlus 3’s metal one.
You can see a rough render of how that might look below – note the absence of antenna bands, which wouldn’t be as needed with glass.
We’re not totally convinced by this though, as while it’s tough to pinpoint how OnePlus has kept the cost down in the final design of its handsets, it presumably aims to keep spending to a minimum during the development of the phone, which means a whole new design every year isn’t likely to be on the cards.
The company completely changed the design for the OnePlus 3, giving it a truly premium metal build, so we may see something similar for the OnePlus 4. It won’t be identical – look out for something slimmer and more refined, but it could have a similar overall look.
A clearer leaked image also shows a lack of antenna bands, though if anything it looks more like a metal back here than a glass one, and whether glass or metal the overall style and shape looks similar to the OnePlus 3T.
We’re hoping for further bezel slimming – allowing the OnePlus 4 to sport a more compact frame even though it houses a 5.5-inch display. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge also boasts a 5.5-inch screen, but it’s narrower and shorter than the OnePlus 3T, which means the OnePlus 4 should be able to slim down too.
We won’t mind if OnePlus makes its next flagship slightly thicker, allowing it to reduce bezel size while making a bit more room for a bigger battery. And space for a microSD slot? We can but dream.
Several leaked images show a dual-lens camera, and another rumor also points to a dual-lens snapper, with augmented reality and mixed reality functions, though no details are given on the specifics of these features.
Another leak details some aspects of the camera though, saying that both lenses will be 12MP, with one color and one monochrome (black and white one) , which combine for improved contrast, more light and less noise in images. The same source says there will be an 8MP front-facing camera.
We’ve also heard again that there will be a dual lens camera, but that the lenses will be horizontally aligned rather than vertically, which would mean the images we’ve seen of the phone are inaccurate.
These changes are believable. A lot of work was put into the camera on the OnePlus 3T. Both rear and front sensors have a high megapixel count (16MP on both) , there’s optical image stabilization and plenty of other features.
But the end result is a snapper which still isn’t quite up to the standards of the best around, so expect the camera on the OnePlus 4 to be further tuned and improved. That’s not to say it’s a bad offering, it’s just the bar has been raised so high it’s difficult – on a budget – to match it.
The megapixel count on the rear snapper may change, but if so it will probably be dropped in line with the current trend of 12MP snappers from the likes of Samsung, Apple and Huawei.
