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Teased OnePlus 5 phone could come sooner than we thought

OnePlus' CEO shared that the company's relentlessly working on its next phone, to "make a big surprise."

Gordon Gottsegen CNET contributor
Gordon Gottsegen is a tech writer who has experience working at publications like Wired. He loves testing out new gadgets and complaining about them. He is the ghost of all failed Kickstarters.
Gordon Gottsegen
2 min read
Josh Miller/CNET

Chinese phonemaker OnePlus , whose midrange OnePlus 3T earned a CNET's Editor's Choice award, is officially working on its next phone. Word came out after CEO and cofounder Pete Lau posted a teaser image from the OnePlus Weibo account (via BGR).

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Enlarge Image
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Weibo

The image shows employees working on the gears of a phone (while one bystander laughingly looks on), and is accompanied by the words "indulge in labor without a break, just to make a big surprise", followed by OnePlus' hashtag "#NeverSettle".

The message? That the next phone, rumored to be called the OnePlus 5 (yes, that skips four since the number regarded as unlucky in China, one that corresponds to death), should come out sooner rather than later.

OnePlus was a relative unknown a few years ago, but the company has since earned a modest global following due to midrange hardware that undercuts typical midrange prices. The company seems to be ramping up its phone releases, perhaps to squeeze other mid-tier rivals. Although the OnePlus 3 came out last June, the follow-up OnePlus 3T appeared in November.

As for hardware, Lau's post doesn't share too many specifics, but we expect it to be a more substantial upgrade. A report from Chinese site PCPop claims that the OnePlus 5 will get the following:

  • Dual rear cameras
  • Slim bezels with no physical home button
  • 8GB of RAM (that's a lot!)
  • 5.5-inch display with 2K resolution
  • 3,000mAh battery
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (same as the Galaxy S8)

The specs are unconfirmed, but we'll keep a lookout for more rumors to come.

OnePlus did not respond to a request for comment.

Watch this: OnePlus 3T ups the ante on an already great phone