Early OnePlus 10T leak suggests OnePlus hasn't forgotten its flagship phones

OnePlus 10 Pro
A OnePlus 10 Pro (Image credit: Future)

It's been a quiet year for OnePlus' flagship line of phones, with the OnePlus 10 Pro the only device we've seen so far, but it sounds like that could be changing in the next few months.

Sure, there was no 'vanilla' OnePlus 10 nor the rumored Ultra version, but a leak has finally detailed the OnePlus 10T, a budget spin-off that's likely coming towards the end of the year. This comes in the form of renders of the phone, shared by a site called OnSiteGo - that's not exactly the biggest site in the world so take this with a pinch of salt.

Apparently these pictures were based on prototype versions of the phone, so they might not line up completely with the finished product, but they give us a good idea as to what OnePlus is focusing on with the new device. Plus, some specs were leaked alongside the images.

The design is reminiscent of the OnePlus 10 Pro - we're mainly talking about the rear camera placement in a square - though this seems to take up more space on the 10T. On the front, everything looks similar too, except the edges of the screen aren't curved - oh, and it seems like OnePlus has dropped the alert slider.

Specs-wise, the display is said to be 6.7 inches across with a 120Hz refresh rate, which is the same as on the Pro, except with a lower resolution at 'just' FHD+. There's more of a different in the camera department though - there's said to be a 50MP main, 16MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro and 32MP selfie camera, which sounds... not as good as the Pro.

It sounds like OnePlus is making the curious decision to introduce 150W charging with this phone, which is much ahead of the Pro's 80W, though with a smaller battery at 4,800mAh - let's see how long that lasts. The chipset is up in the air, as the news site mentions two that are possibilities, and both sound equally top-end.

According to the leak, the phone will land in July, but this seems surprisingly soon given OnePlus' usual release pattern and the not-too-distant launch of the 10 Pro. So we'd expect to see it in August or September.


Analysis: a quiet year for OnePlus

OnePlus has been toying around with its numbered phone series for years. The OnePlus 7 line had four of them (two standard, two T), but there was only one OnePlus 8T bringing that year's total down to three, and the OnePlus 9 didn't even get a T sibling, so there were only two in 2021.

We were surprised at the beginning of 2022 to only see the OnePlus 10 Pro, without even a non-Pro alternative, and it seemingly pointed to OnePlus having a quiet year. 

That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, as the company is clearly focusing on the affordable and mid-range OnePlus Nord devices.

But it sounds like we're at least getting one more 10-series phone this year, whether this is the OnePlus 10T or will just get launched as the OnePlus 10 as some people are suggesting.

It's not a lot, but this will cater to people who couldn't afford the Pro, so it'll likely be well received.

Tom Bedford
Contributor

Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.

He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist.