Rumor has it that OnePlus’ next maneuver is to offer a OnePlus 10T which would ship a more powerful chip than that used on the OnePlus 10 Pro. If we can cast some reasonable doubts on the overall consistency of the range, this strategy could however turn out not to be as meaningless as it seems.
Exit the rumors of OnePlus 10 Ultra, the Chinese company OnePlus would finally focus its efforts on the upcoming release of a 10T model to succeed the current OnePlus 10 Pro. This new version would therefore succeed the OnePlus 9 here and should revive the hopes of the first fans of the brand who wanted high-end smartphones at a more reasonable price.
A model T faithful to the tradition of OnePlus?
If true, this model would explain why we were not entitled to a classic OnePlus 10 last April. It should therefore logically arrive with a slightly smaller screen if we rely on the past, although we are not sure of anything. And as is customary at OnePlus, the T versions — which are versions “improved” previous models – usually arrive with the latest SoC, which here would be neither more nor less than the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 from Qualcomm. This information from the leaker Abhishek Yadav is quite credible since when Qualcomm announced this SoC, the company had listed a number of manufacturers who were currently working on a device incorporating the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 for release in the third half of 2022 (July-September) and OnePlus was on that list.
A sense of deja vu
OnePlus would therefore offer better performance to its T model, which we could however expect to be less expensive than the Pro model. We can assume that this smartphone could also come to offer other improvements compared to the 10 Pro such as faster charging for example, as was the case between the OnePlus 8 Pro and the OnePlus 8T which had gone from 30 W to 65 W. However, it is unlikely that this model will benefit from a camera as powerful as on the 10 Pro.
This product which would be known under the code name “Ovaltine” (Ovomaltine in French, like chocolate) according to the leaker Max Jambor should come to repeat the strategy seen with the OnePlus 8 where the company had released only one “T” variant at the end of 2020 to succeed its two models released at the beginning of the same year. With the difference that at that time, the OnePlus 8 Pro was accompanied by a OnePlus 8 when it was released.
A two-step strategy
This strategy of launching only two very distinct models over the year would not seem insignificant if it were to happen. We should perhaps stop seeing the T models today as suites, but rather as an attempt by OnePlus to address two very distinct targets: on the one hand, those who will be ready to pay an advanced price to have a screen bigger, a better camera, and a “premium” design and on the other the one that continues to want the most performance possible at the best price, even if it means sacrificing some other aspects of the phone a little. This strategy would thus prevent OnePlus from having to satisfy two different audiences on the same release and would avoid the “duplicate” aspect that certain T models could have when they were released.
At present, there is no way to know if this smartphone actually exists, and even if so if it will be made available to us. In any case, if this code name means something, it may be OnePlus’ way of returning to its somewhat nostalgic early fans to establish a new “dynamic”.
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