(Pocket-lint) – OnePlus is expected to roll out its next generation of smartphones shortly and – unlike previous years – we might get three different models this year.
The OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro will likely be the new flagships in the range powered by the Snapdragon 888 processor, but what about the third phone? The so-called ‘OnePlus 9 Lite’?
Firstly, there’s a suggestion that this mid-range phone in the series may not be called the OnePlus 9 Lite. Rather, that it’ll go by the name OnePlus 9E.
Regardless of what the name is, the specs leaked by Greek tech site, Techmaniacs suggest this is very much a lower end device than the other two OnePlus 9 series phones.
In fact, the specs claimed in this leak make us think it doesn’t quite fit in with the OnePlus 9 series at all.
Those specs include the Snapdragon 690 processor, 8GB RAM and 128GB storage alongside a 5,000mAh battery. On the back, we’re supposedly expecting to see a primary 64-megapixel camera, while the front is dominated by a 90Hz 6.5-inch display.
Of course, we’ve seen rumours of ‘Lite’ models of OnePlus phones before. For a long time, the OnePlus Nord was referred to in rumours as the OnePlus 8 Lite or OnePlus 8 Z. So much so, OnePlus made fun of that fact when it was teasing the launch.
The same could be happening here, because having a Snapdragon 600-series processor in the flagship phone range doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Earlier rumours had suggested we’d see a lower powered 800-series processer in the ‘lower’ OnePlus 9 model. That seemed more logical. Not a processor which is less powerful than the one inside the mid-range OnePlus Nord.
For reference, the Snapdragon 690 processor is the one which currently poweres the Nord N10, the Nord-series’ second phone which was pitched as a less powerful, more affordable phone in OnePlus’ mid-range family of phones.
In fact, it’s in a lot of phones at the budget end of the market. None of them offer the speed and performance of a flagship OnePlus series.
If OnePlus does surprise us and launches a OnePlus 9 model with a Snapdragon 690 inside it, it would blur the lines between its flagship 9-series and the Nord family, which would – for sure – confuse the messaging around what the 9-series is supposed to be.
Time will tell if this rumour pans out, but for now we’re filing it under ‘not so sure about that’.
Writing by Cam Bunton.
