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OnePlus Combats OnePlus 5 Leaks By Revealing First Official Photo

By James Walker
Published on: 06:32 PST, Jun 8, 2017

OnePlus has released the first official image of its upcoming OnePlus 5 smartphone amid a storm of rumors and leaks showing the final design. As anticipation mounts for the new device OnePlus confirmed it would have a dual-lens camera.

The OnePlus 5 is the successor to the highly successful OnePlus 3, the popular high-end smartphone with a mid-range price tag. OnePlus is set to take the wraps off the device later this month but the launch has already been spoiled by several complete leaks.

Earlier this week, Android Police exclusively published a full press image of the device. Confirmation of its headline specifications, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor and a huge 8GB of RAM, has also been found. References to the device’s capabilities were found inside the source code of Amazon India’s landing page for the phone. They have since been removed.

Seemingly fed up with the volume of leaks surrounding the 5, OnePlus took to Twitter today to publicly introduce the phone. While it has been confirming key details of its hardware over the past few weeks, OnePlus has now gone a step further by revealing a clear photo. It shows the top half of the phone’s back and confirms the presence of a dual-lens camera, akin to the setup used on Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus.

The camera is arranged differently to how many fans had expected. Whereas it was thought OnePlus would use a vertical arrangement above its logo, expanding on the OnePlus 3’s design, it has instead opted for a horizontal layout. This puts the camera higher on the phone’s body. The change may have been made to save space internally or for purely cosmetic reasons.

The overall look of the device is an obvious evolution of the current OnePlus 3T. It appears to be slightly thinner and flatter than the outgoing model though, due to the removal of the old round camera lens. The result is a smart and minimal design that sees the OnePlus logo placed centrally on the back with the LED flash above it. The new oblong camera surround is placed in the top-left and has a very slight hump for the lens.

There are parallels to be drawn though. The dual camera, visible antenna bands, and curved corners make the phone look very similar to the iPhone 7 Plus. While this probably isn’t the effect OnePlus is aiming for, it has led to criticism from some fans.

Although the bottom of the phone is yet to be revealed, it currently seems as though the OnePlus 5 could be mistaken for an iPhone at first glance. This issue wasn’t present on the OnePlus 3 as the round camera lens and more obviously metallic body gave it immediate distinguishing characteristics.

As well as introducing a new design, the OnePlus 5 is widely expected to be one of the fastest smartphones available this year. In a leaked test that was published last month, the OnePlus 5’s huge memory capacity and Snapdragon 835 processor enabled it to outperform Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and the Google Pixel XL. This shows OnePlus owners should be able to run any app available without running into performance issues.

Additional rumored specs for the device include a giant 4,000mAh battery and storage options ranging from 64GB right up to 256GB. One point of uncertainty which today’s photo release doesn’t confirm is whether the display will be bezel-less. Current speculation is that OnePlus will shun the current trend towards removing the bezels, retaining the same 5.5-inch panel as the OnePlus 3T. This should also enable it to retain its fingerprint sensor and physical power button in the same locations.

The OnePlus 5 is shaping up to be one of the year’s most exciting smartphone launches. While the design is likely to be more controversial than previous OnePlus devices, the cutting-edge performance hardware underneath will make it the phone to buy for many enthusiast consumers.

Unfortunately, the expanded features do come at a cost as the OnePlus 5 is expected to be significantly pricier than its outgoing predecessor. Rumors have pointed to a price tag of around €550, up from €299 for the OnePlus 3. This is still significantly lower than the Galaxy S8 or Google Pixel though, devices that could well turn out to be slower than the new OnePlus handset. OnePlus will officially launch the phone on June 20.

[Featured Image by OnePlus]

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