Render shows OnePlus tackling the midrange market with OnePlus 8 Lite
A midrange device from the king of value smartphones? Yes, please.
by Ron Amadeo
2020 will bring all the usual yearly updates from all the usual phone vendors, but one interesting new addition is a cheaper smartphone from OnePlus. The king of value flagship smartphones is making what looks like a midrange device.
The news comes to us from OnLeaks and 91Mobiles, which have whipped up CAD-based renders of the device. OnLeaks says there's no name for the device yet, but for now, the report is going with "OnePlus 8 Lite." The render shows a device with a flat display measuring somewhere around 6.4-inches and a front camera that lives in a hole punch in the middle of the display, just like a Samsung device. The hole-punch camera is apparently the design OnePlus will go with across its lineup—OnLeaks has released "OnePlus 8 Pro" renders earlier, featuring this same Samsung-y front camera design.
Other features on the render include two cameras and a lot of sensors on the back, a USB-C port and speaker on the bottom, and a physical mute switch on the side. It's hard to imagine an Android phone shipping without a fingerprint reader (unless you're Google, I guess), so an in-screen fingerprint reader is probably included. There's no headphone jack, which is a shame for a mid-range device.
The design doesn't really matter, though. What we're mainly interested in are the specs and price, which are mysteries for now. OnePlus regularly delivers the best bang-for-your-buck in the industry, and having the company build something cheaper than a flagship smartphone has the potential for greatness. For now, we'll have to be on the lookout for more info before the launch sometime next year.