It’s been a few months since the OnePlus 6 came out and the phone’s gotten really good reviews. There aren’t many things that the phone misses out on and it delivers everything at an affordable price, a key aspect of all OnePlus phones.
However, people are now excited for the OnePlus 6T which is only a few months away. This is because the ‘T’ version of each year’s phones are much better than the previous ones. This makes the prospect of an improved version of the already fantastic OnePlus 6 mouthwatering. With the 6T likely launching in November, here’s what we can and what we shouldn’t expect from the phone:
What to expect
Android P
Android P is the latest version of Android that’s out on Google’s Pixel devices currently. We’re only a few weeks away from when Google releases the final version of Android P. The latest Android firmware brings some really great changes well such as adaptive battery life, adaptive brightness, and app slices.
Google makes use of Machine Learning to implement a lot of the features in Android P, the software basically tries to read your mind and optimizes the performance according to whatever you’re about to do next. For example, the adaptive battery life feature is able to figure out what apps you’re going to use in the next few hours and the ones you won’t be using, so it’s able to adjust accordingly.
Therefore, Android P is quite a significant update from Google and since we’re still a few months away from the OnePlus 6T, it’s highly possible for their software engineers to come up with a version of Oxygen OS that has Android P in it. Having Android P out of the box will also make the 6T one of the first non-Google devices have the latest firmware which will definitely give it a competitive edge in the market, so it’s likely that we’ll see Android P in the next OnePlus phone.
Improved Battery charging
OnePlus 6 already have superb charging with their popular Dash charging. You can currently get up to 70% charging in 30 minutes on the OnePlus 6 which, according to the company is a day’s worth of charge. However, there’s room for improvement even from this.
Oppo recently announced ‘Super VOOC’ charge with their limited edition Lamborghini Find X which is capable of charging a 3500 mAh battery in just 35 minutes. That is even better than the current Dash charging solution OnePlus has and it’s something that OnePlus can go for.
They can license the Super VOOC charge from Oppo and incorporate it in their latest phone. OnePlus also recently filed a trademark for ‘Warp’ charging too. Although the trademark has more to do with their copyright issues with Dash charging, it’s highly likely that they introduce a new form of charging with WARP charging, and it’s a change that they could bring to a ‘T’ version of a phone that’d make it superior to its competition.
Wireless Charging
When the OnePlus 6 came out, one of the fiercest criticisms it received was the lack of wireless charging. The phone seemed to have everything but wireless charging and given how all of its competitors have it, the company might finally introduce wireless charging in the 6T.
At this point, there’s no reason why OnePlus won’t introduce wireless charging to their phones. They added a glass back to the OnePlus 6 which makes wireless charging possible and even though the company is a staunch advocate of wired charging, a lot of people want it. Wireless charging won’t be as fast as Dash charging, but since OnePlus is all about user feedback and working to satisfy people’s needs, wireless charging is a highly likely addition to the OnePlus 6T.
Improved Camera
One of the strongest aspects of the OnePlus 6 is its camera. That wasn’t the case a few years back as OnePlus cameras were good but not to the standard of its competing flagships. However, that’s no longer the case now as the OnePlus 6 has a superb camera that rivals that of its competitors but it still lacks in a few areas, specifically low-light.
Low-light pictures are where some companies such as Samsung and Huawei thrive. The whole marketing of the Samsung Galaxy S9 was around low-light camera performance which goes to show how important and desirable of a thing it is when it comes to camera performance. With OnePlus only majorly lacking in low-light camera shots, it’s highly possible they make some tweaks to their phone’s camera to improve performance in low-light conditions to make it stand toe-to-toe with its competitors.
The Price will increase (a little)
Despite OnePlus built around the idea of bringing top quality phones to users at affordable prices, there’s a noticeable trend as each generation of OnePlus phones comes and goes. The OnePlus One started at just $299 and it has come all the way to $549 with the latest OnePlus 6, and given the current trend, it might reach a price level similar to Samsung’s.
However, that doesn’t mean that the price increases aren’t justified. OnePlus phones have come a long way, they weren’t going head to head with other flagships before. The type of technology and features the phone has to offer nowadays rival its competitors and these things don’t come cheap. The phone is still very affordable and still cheaper than its competitors.
Given that the company is going to make improvements to the 6T to make it stand out from the OnePlus 6 and the rest, the price will have to go up. However, since the phone is marketed around the affordability factor, one shouldn’t be too worried about the price. It’s likely that the OnePlus 6T will start at $30 more than its predecessor, which would be at $559 which is still quite affordable and good value for money for what it’ll have to offer.
IP-68 certification and a 2K OLED screen
The OnePlus 6 is water and dust resistant but it doesn’t have the coveted IP68 certification. Although OnePlus claims that the phone’s waterproofing is good, having a certification makes it better. Therefore, having the IP68 certification on the OnePlus 6T makes sense and we should expect to see it.
Another odd thing about the OnePlus 6 was the 1080p screen. There are many flagships out there with better screens and its only a matter of time before OnePlus joins them. It’s expected that the OnePlus 6T will have a 2K OLED screen, which, along with all the other improvements will indeed make it a complete phone.
What not to expect
The Display
What we shouldn’t expect from the OnePlus 6T is a fully bezel-less display. Although there is an argument to be made that Oppo recently introduced a fully bezel-less display with the Oppo Find X and in the past, OnePlus has borrowed some of the design choices of Oppo.
The reason for that is the fact that Oppo, Vivo and OnePlus all come under one parent company called BBK electronics. Therefore, it’s not surprising to see the three borrow design choices from one another. There’s also the argument that given how the company stretched out the screen from the OnePlus 5 to the OnePlus 5T, there might be a chance for the OnePlus 6T to have a fully bezel-less screen, inspired by the design of the Oppo Find X.
However, the One Plus 5 scenario was different as it was nor hard or costly to implement. To go from the current setup with the notch to a fully bezel-less screen will cost far more and will require a complete overhaul of the setup of the phone. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense for OnePlus to do this for a T phone especially since the T series builds upon the original introducing a few improvements here and there.
Moreover, as mentioned earlier, it would bump up the price significantly which is not what OnePlus wants. Therefore, the display change is unlikely to happen.
No on-screen fingerprint scanner
Months before the OnePlus 6 came out, it was highly speculated that we will get an on-screen fingerprint scanner. However, when the phone came out, that wasn’t the case and we were given the same but very impressive fingerprint scanner.
The technology for the in-screen scanner exists and OnePlus could implement it, however, that will likely not happen. The current fingerprint scanner is really fast and responsive, it unlocks your phone in an instant. The in-screen scanner will likely not be as fast and since the OnePlus 6 this year is all about speed, it’s a compromise the company will likely not want to make.