We’ve just been treated to the global launch of the OnePlus 10 Pro, but rumour has it that there is an enhanced version of this phone still to make its appearance. Here’s what you need to know.
After a long wait to see the OnePlus 10 Pro‘s global launch, which came several months after it was first unveiled in China, there could apparently be yet another handset on its way here. Known as the OnePlus 10 Ultra, this is supposed to the the kind of no-holds-barred flagship that could compete with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Read on for all we know so far, including information on the release date, price, and specifications.
Release Date
The below tweet, from Twitter tipster Yogesh Brar, is our biggest clue to date as to when we might finally see the OnePlus 10 Ultra:
Here are some of the upcoming Nord/number series products•OnePlus 10 Pro – March•OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite – April•OnePlus Nord 2T – April End/Early May•OnePlus 10R – May•OnePlus Nord 3 (Nord Pro) – July•OnePlus 10 Ultra (10 Pro Plus) – Late Q3— Yogesh Brar (@heyitsyogesh) March 21, 2022
According to this information, which also sketches out the rest of OnePlus’ 2022 launch schedule, including for the affordable Nord series, alleges that the Ultra will arrive in “late Q3” – so you might have to wait until September to see this handset.
Price
Previous generations of the OnePlus have existed in the form of a “standard version”, such as the OnePlus 9, which was then followed up by the pricier Pro edition (i.e., the OnePlus 9 Pro). This year is evidently different, with no such standard OnePlus 10 having been released; instead, we might be getting a Pro and Ultra edition.
Therefore we’ve not really got a track record to go off, but it’s fair to assume that we’ll see a hefty price increase given the added prestige that the ‘Ultra’ moniker entails, so it may very well become the first OnePlus device to break the £1000/$1000 barrier, a moment that may further disconnect the brand from its roots as a manufacturer of brilliant handsets at a bargain price.
Design
Our clearest impression of the OnePlus 10 Ultra to date comes courtesy of the Dutch website LetsGoDigital, in collaboration with the YouTuber Concept Creator, from whom the below renders were sourced.
Image: LetsGoDigital and Concept Creator
These images were created based on early rumours of the specifications, but it does seem relatively likely that the finished product will also resemble the OnePlus 10 Pro. The display, which curves slightly at the sides, once again has a small holepunch camera in the upper left corner of the screen, while the matte rear panel again gives way to a very large – some might say unsightly – camera module that boasts three lenses.
Image: LetsGoDigital and Concept Creator
You can see a close-up look of this speculative interpretation of the camera module in the above render.
Camera
One thing you may have noticed in the design renders is that the supposed camera module of the Ultra seems to boast a lens with 5x optical zoom. The Pro version just had one telephoto lens with a 3.3x optical zoom, so this would seem to be one major change to the camera hardware between the two models.
Technology sharing between OnePlus & Oppo is in Full swing, Find X5 series gets Hasselblad treatment and I’m hearing that MariSilicon will be seen on a OnePlus Flagship in the 2nd Half of this year.There are rumours of an Ultra flagship from OnePlus in the EVT phase right now.— Yogesh Brar (@heyitsyogesh) January 25, 2022
On top of that, Yogesh Brar has disclosed that the relationship between OnePlus and Oppo has deepened recently, meaning that new OnePlus phones could potentially receive access to MariSilicon. This is Oppo’s own neural processing unit, which has taken the image processing of its smartphones to new heights; we certainly admired the Oppo Find X5 Pro in this regard, so we hope that the OnePlus 10 Ultra will approach its level of photographic expertise too.
Performance
OnePlus flagship handsets tend to run on the latest mobile chipsets from Qualcomm. For the Pro that was the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, but for its successor we might see a mid-lifecycle upgrade to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus, which is likely to boast even stronger performance scores. Given that we were already impressed by the results of the OnePlus 10 Pro, this would be seriously promising.
Trusted Take
We were very impressed with the OnePlus 10 Pro across most key areas, particularly the screen, performance, battery, and fast charging.
The one aspect that seemed to lag behind the rest of the field was the camera, which did not have a uniform colour palette and were somewhat unreliable depending on lighting conditions. So if these early rumours of major camera changes are proved to be correct, then we could be in for a real treat in the form of the OnePlus 10 Pro.
