We have more OnePlus 11 news: OnePlus has announced that the flagship phone will actually debut on Wednesday, January 4 in China, and official images of the phone in two different colors have also been pushed out.
It all comes from a Chinese social networking site Weibo (opens in a new tab) (by Get involved (opens in a new tab)), emphasizing that it will likely be a kick-off event which is quite heavily regionalised. That said, it will be the same phone wherever in the world you buy it.
As previously reported, OnePlus’ global launch is scheduled for Tuesday, February 7, where we’ll no doubt learn more about international availability and pricing – even if everything else about the phone has already been revealed.
Specification appeal
OnePlus has not hesitated to share specs, features and promotional images for the OnePlus 11 on your Weibo page (opens in a new tab). In fact, there won’t be much to reveal during the official launch events coming up in January and February.
As expected, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset will run the program, with memory configuration options starting at 12GB – this starting point is higher than the 8GB on the OnePlus 10 Pro that launched earlier this year.
As for the look of the phone, the official images match the leaked renders that surfaced earlier. OnePlus says it’s a “black hole-inspired aesthetic design” (according to Google Translate), with a large cutout for the rear camera module.
Analysis: 2023 in phones starts here
If you count the January 4 launch event in China as the official unveiling, the OnePlus 11 will be the first blocky flagship phone in 2023. Being first has some value, but it also means other manufacturers have more time to refine and develop their handsets before launching them.
According to the latest rumors, Samsung will reveal the Galaxy S23 family of phones on February 1, which is Wednesday. Three high-end phones will be presented at the exhibition: Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra.
The Google Pixel 8 is expected to arrive in October, as that’s when Pixel smartphones usually come out. Before that, however, we may see a foldable phone and a mid-range Pixel 7a from Google.
Android flagships will be the iPhone 15. If Apple sticks to its usual timeline, there will be several iPhone 15 models at some point in September, and we’ve already heard that the camera is in the queue for a major upgrade, and some models in the range could be equipped with semiconductor buttons.