The latest OnePlus phone changes color when it senses a 5G signal

The OnePlus 8T Gaudi concept phone shifts between blue and silver.

Corinne Reichert Senior Writer

Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.

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I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.

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Corinne Reichert

Dec. 23, 2020 9:09 a.m. PT

The OnePlus 8T Gaudi color shifts between gray and blue.

OnePlus

OnePlus has announced another model of the 8T, this time revealing a color-changing phone. Using electronic color, material and finish, or ECMF, technology, the OnePlus 8T concept phone shifts between dark blue and light silver when the metal oxide inside the glass casing activates.

It's been tied into the phone's mmWave radar, so that when it receives a 5G signal, the phone changes color.

Read more: Best Android phone to buy for 2020

The OnePlus 8T Gaudi was created by a new art-based OnePlus studio with designers in New York, India, Shenzhen and Taipei.

OnePlus says ECMF could be used in the future to make a phone flash colors for an incoming call, as well as a breathing monitor, with the phone changing colors to register a user's breathing.