Chinese phone maker OnePlus on Thursday took to Twitter to share another teaser for the OnePlus 5, hinting that its upcoming Android flagship might feature a smaller body than its 2016 predecessor – the OnePlus 3T. The Shenzhen, Guangdong-based company published an image that can be seen above, asking its fans to “look into the shadows” and heavily implying that the device underneath the OnePlus 3T is its successor that’s set to be launched this month. While the image can’t serve as the ultimate proof that the OnePlus 5 will have a smaller body than the OnePlus 3T, that’s the main takeaway from this teaser, especially in light of the fact that recent reports indicated that the upcoming high-end smartphone will ship with a 5.5-inch display panel that won’t be any larger to that of its predecessor.
As the company’s top executive recently confirmed that the OnePlus 5 will be thinner than the 2016 handset, it’s possible that the Chinese original equipment manufacturer (OEM) also opted to make the device as compact as possible. A less likely scenario is that the OnePlus 5 will sport slimmer bezels and a somewhat larger display panel compared to the previous OnePlus-branded device. One thing that the newly released teaser does confirm is that the smartphone will be similarly sized to the OnePlus 3T. OnePlus started teasing its upcoming flagship in late May, having already revealed a number of promos that confirmed the device will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip (SoC) and indicated that consumers will initially have four color variants to choose from. Recent rumors suggested that the OnePlus 5 may be packed with as much as 8GB of RAM, though the device is unlikely to ship with a microSD card slot. Likewise, it remains to be seen whether OnePlus finally decides to ship a smartphone with a QHD resolution.
Industry watchers expect the OnePlus 5 to be somewhat more expensive than its predecessor due to increased manufacturing costs and consumer demand that will likely allow the Chinese OEM to aim for higher profit margins while still clearing its stock in a timely manner. The device is expected to be announced on or around June 15 and more details on its characteristics will likely be teased by OnePlus in the meantime.