Rumors say that from OnePlus 3T the next flagship killer from China will skip to OnePlus 5, which will boast of design makeover and significant specs bumps, headlined by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 chip and up to 8GB of RAM support. The body depth will also be trimmed down to 7mm but the aesthetic adjustment is not without the usual tradeoffs.
With the OnePlus 5 body build slimmer than ever, the battery that will come with the device is unlikely to become bigger than the last iteration. According to WCCFTech, it's safe to assume that with the space inside the device so tight a battery pack of only 3000mAh can only be found or a step down from the last version, meaning extended operating hours will not be part of the deal.
It's hard to imagine how the OnePlus 5 can last a whole day in single charge if indeed the device will have a 5.5-inch display with QHD screen resolution of 2K that surely will demand lots of battery juice. Add to the power hog component of the device is SD 835, which the same report said is all but confirmed when the next-gen OnePlus flagship killer gets unboxed.
The OnePlus 5 is also rumored to deliver the same feature upgrades that 2017 flagship phones will likely be unleashing such as all-screen profile with curved OLED panel and enhanced fingerprint sensor. But according to Android Authority, it's possible that the device will still skip on a number of features that rival flagship phones already offer.
One will be dual-camera setting that both the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Apple iPhone 8 will further improve on. The two devices are expected too to jump out of the with water resistance feature, which the OnePlus 5 is unlikely to include on its finalized menu.
And add to the woe of smaller battery size, Android Authority said wireless charging while already a standard on many mobile devices could still prove elusive for would-be OnePlus 5 buyers. Same goes for memory expansion that has been absent in the earlier editions, the same report indicated microSD slot is still likely to be denied in the upcoming refresh.
But all these step ups can still be part of the OnePlus 5 wish list features, which the handset's maker can consider and hopefully make true.
Lastly, it is hoped that the OnePlus 5 will debut with the latest Android version, which by time the device is released later this 2017 is rumored to be Android 8.0 Oreo. And that the flagship killer will remain relatively cheaper than the competition.