The OnePlus 5T won’t be powered by the Snapdragon 836, Qualcomm’s rumored revision of the Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip (SoC) that’s said to be commercialized in the coming months, one industry source said earlier this month. The BBK Electronics-owned original equipment manufacturer (OEM) just announced the OnePlus 5 and is expected to follow up on it with the OnePlus 5T in late 2017, similar to how it released the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T in June and November of 2016, respectively. Whereas last year’s flagship revision was equipped with the Snapdragon 821 as opposed to the Snapdragon 820 featured in the OnePlus 3, this year’s iteration will likely sport the same piece of silicon present in its predecessor, i.e. the Snapdragon 835, latest reports indicate.
Qualcomm’s premium chip has been in short supply this year, being directly responsible for the fact that flagships like the Sony Xperia XZ Premium and HTC U11 were relatively late to the market compared to the Samsung Galaxy S8 series. Massive shortages of the Snapdragon 835 are also said to be the primary reason why the LG G6 launched with last year’s Snapdragon 821, with LG Electronics reportedly being unwilling to wait for Qualcomm to meet the demand for its first 10nm SoC. OnePlus’s supposed decision to ship the OnePlus 5T with the Snapdragon 835 as opposed to the Snapdragon 836 may be a cost-effectiveness move, with the company slowly evolving its product strategy in an effort to grow into a sustainable business, as evidenced by the fact that both variants of the newly announced OnePlus 5 are more expensive than the OnePlus 3 which started at $439.
Apart from the SoC, the OnePlus 3T also provided an upgrade over the previous model in the battery department by replacing the 3,000mAh unit powering the OnePlus 3 with a 3,400mAh one while retaining identical dimensions, measuring 152.7 x 74.7 x 7.4mm in size. The OnePlus 5 is 7.3mm thin, negligibly taller, and a little narrower (154.2 x 74.1mm), though it ships with a 3,300mAh battery and there’s currently no indication that the Shenzhen, Guangdong-based consumer electronics manufacturer is planning to increase the battery capacity with the OnePlus 5T, provided that it’s even able to do so in the first place. More details on the OnePlus 5T will likely be available later this year.