OnePlus president teases record-breaking OnePlus 15T smartphone — but I’m far more interested in the OnePlus 16

• The OnePlus 15T is getting thin bezels, apparently
• OnePlus' Li Jie Loui called them the “visually narrowest bezels” among all small-screen phones
• The OnePlus 16 might beat it, however, with other substantial upgrades to boot

OnePlus is making direct swings at Apple as the first teasers for the OnePlus 15T are here — and the OnePlus 16 just got an exciting camera leak too.

Starting with the OnePlus 15T, OnePlus China President Li Jie Loui took to social media to claim the compact device has ultra-narrow bezels on every side. Taking things a step further, he claimed OnePlus’ next phone could have the “visually narrowest bezels” among all small-screen phones, "perhaps even the world” (machine translated from Chinese to English).

He said this milestone was achieved through "a series of groundbreaking screen packaging technologies" alongside chipset and production line enhancements.

His post showed an image of his company’s upcoming phone up against what appears to be an iPhone 17 Pro based on the shape and orange color, and the OnePlus 15T does indeed have slimmer bezels than it. The iPhone 17 Pro has 1.44mm bezels, though the regular OnePlus 15 has 1.15mm bezels already, so the difference would likely be less stark if the 15T were compared to the company’s own devices.

Unfortunately, like previous OnePlus T releases, the 15T is likely set to be a China-exclusive product, though unlike some China-exclusive releases, this currently isn’t one I’m crying my eyes out over.

Sure, smaller bezels allow compact phones to be even more efficient with their footprint — either slimming their chassis down without losing screen size, or keeping the chassis a similar size while making the screen a little larger. I’m not all that fussed by less than 1mm improvements to the bezel thickness, though, if that’s something you deeply care about, you might want to start working out a way to import this release — or hold out for the OnePlus 16.

The real next OnePlus flagship

Likely to release globally based on OnePlus’ history, the OnePlus 16 flagship is already being leaked, and its bezels are tipped to be smaller than 1mm (via NotebookCheck).

Furthermore, its battery capacity is rumored to be 9,000mAh (over double the Samsung Galaxy S26’s 4,175mAh capacity), it could boast a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chipset, its display might have a 240Hz refresh rate, and joining its 200MP main sensor is a 200MP periscope lens if leaks are to be believed.

All rumors and leaks should be taken with a pinch of salt, but OnePlus’ hardware has been steaming ahead of the competition in recent years, and I wouldn’t be surprised if its next flagship — OnePlus 16 — continued this trend.

Such advancements could be especially potent this year, where rivals’ innovation is predicted to be dulled by RAM-crisis-fuelled price rises. Just look at the recent Samsung Galaxy S26 series launch, the new devices have some useful new AI features, and the Ultra has its Privacy display, but overall, the tech is a little lackluster despite costing more (at least for the base and Plus models) than last year.

If OnePlus can offer excellent value for money despite industry headwinds, it could win over its rivals’ customers, but we’ll have to wait and see.

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