The OnePlus 16 goes fully official with monster camera, colossal battery, gorgeous screen, and more
Is this the best Android phone... most of the world will never be able to buy?
The OnePlus 16 doesn't look radically different from its predecessor at first glance. | Image by OnePlus
Just because we've known for quite some time now (and suspected for even longer) that the OnePlus 16 isn't coming to the US or Europe, that doesn't mean you should completely ignore the handset's official announcement in its manufacturer's homeland.
In keeping with OnePlus tradition, many of the flagship's insanely sophisticated specs were revealed in the weeks leading up to yesterday's big launch, but that doesn't make them any less breathtaking when listed altogether as follows.
This is an absolutely insane spec sheet!
- 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED screen with 2772 x 1272 pixel resolution, 185Hz refresh rate technology, and up to 2000 nits of brightness;
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 processor;
- Android 17 with ColorOS 17.0;
- 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB UFS 4.1 internal storage;
- 12 and 16GB LPDDR5X Ultra memory;
- 9,000mAh battery;
- 100W wired charging support;
- 50W wireless charging capabilities;
- 200MP primary rear-facing camera with f/1.6 aperture;
- 50MP secondary ultra-wide-angle sensor with f/2.0 aperture;
- 50MP tertiary telephoto lens with f/2.6 aperture and 3x optical zoom;
- 50MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture;
- Wi-Fi 7;
- Bluetooth 6.0;
- IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K water and dust resistance;
- USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port;
- 161.42 x 76.67 x 8.45mm dimensions;
- 217 grams weight;
- Starlight, Martian Masterpiece, and Dark Forest color options.
Let's talk a little more about the key OnePlus 16 selling points
If the OnePlus 15 knocked your socks off with a 7,300mAh battery that looked pretty much impossible to beat on US shores late last year, this year's sequel to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 powerhouse somehow leaves its predecessor in the dust in the same department with a substantial 23 percent or so cell capacity improvement.
That's an epic number by any standard. | Image by OnePlus
The upgrade is incredibly possible despite the fact that the OnePlus 16 is only slightly thicker and ever so slightly heavier than the OnePlus 15, and the real-world battery life is likely to be enhanced by the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 processor as well.
That's the same state-of-the-art chipset found inside the likes of the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max and Honor Magic 9 Pro Max, as well as the upcoming Motorola Signature 27 and Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra, and of course, it can be paired with your choice of 12 or 16 gigs of RAM on the OnePlus 16.
The 200MP primary rear-facing camera is another key upgrade over the OnePlus 15 (which was a photography champion even with "just" three 50MP lenses), and although the peak brightness of the new 6.78-inch screen doesn't sound mind-blowing, the 185Hz refresh rate support certainly does.
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Naturally, you'll only be able to hit that number in a handful of games, but the OnePlus 16 also promises to offer "global" (read system-wide) 165Hz technology, which is not something many phones can pull off.
The prices are... not bad
Unfortunately, the rising industry-wide component costs of the last year or so have made affordable high-end Android phones a dying breed (even in China), so it shouldn't come as a shock that the OnePlus 16 is considerably pricier than all its forerunners at launch.
While the OnePlus 15 started at only 3,999 yuan around this time last year, the punchier, smoother, and overall more sophisticated OnePlus 16 is set to cost CNY 5,999 in an entry-level variant with 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage space.
The OnePlus 16 is not cheap, but it's also definitely not a pushover. | Image by OnePlus
That currently equates to close to $900, which is actually quite a bit lower than the CNY 6,999 ($1,045) starting price of a Xiaomi 18 Pro Max with two displays, Privacy Screen technology, two different 200MP cameras, but only 8,500mAh battery capacity.
The most expensive OnePlus 16 configuration, meanwhile, is priced at 8,499 yuan ($1,270), which also feels rather steep compared to its OnePlus 15 counterpart but definitely not too bad for an ultra-high-end handset with 1TB storage and 16GB RAM in late 2026.
Of course, if the phone were ever released in the US, its starting price would most likely exceed $900 (perhaps even $1,000), but that doesn't really matter now that OnePlus has officially retired from both North America and Europe.
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