The inexpensive OnePlus 10R 5G could give the 10 Pro a run for its money with 'exclusive' new SoC
OnePlus sure likes to keep busy these days, preparing not one but two interesting new phones for an official announcement following just a few weeks after the long overdue global expansion of the company's latest flagship model.
As the name suggests, the 5G-enabled OnePlus 10R slated for a formal debut in India on April 28 will be closely related to the ultra-high-end 10 Pro while taking over the inexpensive flagship torch from last year's 9R.
Unlike the Snapdragon 870-powered OnePlus 9R and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-packing 10 Pro, the 10R will apparently eschew the "standard" Qualcomm processor route in favor of MediaTek-made silicon. That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, especially after the latest pre-launch company reveal.
What exactly is the Dimensity 8100 Max?
The simple answer to that question is obviously a souped-up version (of some sort) of the existing Dimensity 8100 chipset found inside devices like the Realme GT Neo 3 and Xiaomi Redmi K50.
What we don't know is how the Dimensity 8100 will change in its "Max" incarnation, which is interestingly billed as "exclusive" to the OnePlus 10R 5G, thus highlighting the smartphone manufacturer's "shared vision" with the very successful semiconductor company for a "flagship experience accessible to a wider audience."
While that doesn't really tell us anything of substance about the Dimensity 8100 Max specifications and capabilities, it does make us confident that the OnePlus 10R will be able to outpower the 10 Pro in certain benchmarks. Wait, what?
Believe it or not, the "regular" Dimensity 8100 was at one point found to almost match the theoretical muscle of Qualcomm's state-of-the-art Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, so if the Max variant is even slightly faster than that, the unthinkable could well happen.
Although that doesn't necessarily mean the OnePlus 10R will be overall superior to the 10 Pro out in the real world, the rest of the impending phone's already confirmed specs are also pretty impressive, including insanely fast 150W wired charging technology and a reasonably hefty 4,500mAh battery.
Then you have all the widely rumored features that are not etched in stone... yet, like a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate support, a triple rear-facing camera system headlined by an extra-large 50MP sensor, and up to 12 gigs of RAM paired with as much as 256GB storage space. Not bad for what we expect to be a considerably lower-cost device than the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G, eh? Too bad a US release is almost certainly not in the cards.
What about the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G?
The other interesting handset officially scheduled for an April 28 announcement in India was confirmed yesterday to pack a massive 5,000mAh battery with 33W SuperVOOC fast charging support, which obviously doesn't sound as remarkable as the 10R's record-setting 150W speeds.
But this is a sub-$400 device we're talking about here, which is unfortunately also unlikely to ever land in the US.
In pure unconventional OnePlus fashion, the company is teasing April 16, 19, and 23 announcements of key Nord CE 2 Lite 5G selling points demonstrating a "classier" design, "sharper" cameras, and a "snappier" processor than "you'd expect" in the aforementioned price bracket.
Of course, the mid-ranger's spec sheet is not exactly the world's best-kept secret, most likely including a 6.6-inch or so IPS LCD screen with either 90 or 120Hz refresh rate support, a very respectable Snapdragon 695 SoC, a 64MP primary rear-facing shooter, and at least 6 gigs of RAM coupled with a generous 128 gigs of local digital hoarding room.
Things that are NOT allowed: