The OnePlus 5 is only a few months old, but OnePlus is already back with a new proposal. As OnePlus did last year with the OnePlus 3T, released only four months after the OnePlus 3, the company has now pulled the veil off a successor to its latest flagship, baptized the OnePlus 5T.
Yet this year things are a bit different, as the Chinese device maker has launched a second phone with roughly the same specs, but very different design. OnePlus is done bucking the all-screen smartphone trend so, the OnePlus 5T makes the transition to the modern bezel-less design that most customers are lusting for these days. The physical home button has been removed in order to keep the bottom “chin” as slim as possible and the fingerprint sensor – which can still unlock your phone in under 0.2 seconds – now lives on the back of the phone.
The OnePlus 5T features a larger 6-inch OLED display on paper, but due to its new 18:9 aspect ratio, it’s practically the same size as the OnePlus 5, although it’s a tad taller and wider. The display takes up 80.5% of the phone’s front and features the unusual yet by now familiar 1080 x 2160 resolution.
The OnePlus 5T is basically made of the same materials as its predecessor, meaning it sports an aluminum build, a lush black finish and a very ergonomic curved back that makes the phone easy to grip. You also get the majority of the OnePlus 5’s specs on board of the OnePlus 5T including a Snapdragon 835 processor with Adreno 540 GPU, as well as two RAM + storage versions (6GB of RAM + 64GB storage and 8GB of RAM + 128GB storage) and the 3,300 mAh battery. And in case you were wondering about this particular aspect, the 3.5mm headphone jack is still present.
The second biggest change the OnePlus 5T brings to the table is in the camera department. Say goodbye to the secondary telephoto lens which adorned the back of the OnePlus 5, as the company has replaced it with a “low-light camera” with f/1.2 – the same aperture as the one on the main sensor, which has remained unchanged. OnePlus says that in very low-light scenarios, the camera will automatically revert to the secondary 20-megapixel sensor with 27mm field of view in order to noise-free low-light shots. And yes, Portrait Mode makes a return on the OnePlus 5T, slightly improved in order to better reduce the noise.
The OnePlus 5T also includes a few other new features. It comes with Face Unlock – an authentication method which scans your face while looking for 100 identifiers to determine whether you are the owner of the phone or not.
Moreover, OxygenOS brings a few improvements on the software side, including Parallel Apps (a tool for cloning apps, so you can use two social accounts at once), New Gallery and customization options (for example you can use custom icons with the built-in launcher).
The OnePlus 5T will go on sale on November 21 in the US, Europe, as well as China, Hong Kong, and India. Customers will be able to place an order on OnePlus’ official website starting 9 a.m. (EST). Oh and at least initially it’s only going to be available in Midnight Black.
As for pricing, the OnePlus 5T is a bit more expensive than the OnePlus 5, no surprises here. In the US, the base 64GB model will be available for $499, while the 128GB will be sold for $599. To compare, the OnePlus 5 was offered for either $479 or $539, depending on the model.
