OnePlus has just announced its partnership with McLaren, which essentially means that a special edition OnePlus 6T unit is one the way. OnePlus only announced that it will be partnering with McLaren via a press release, while all the additional details regarding this partnership will be revealed at the company’s event on December 12 which will be held at the McLaren Technology Centre in the UK. The company refers to this press event as a “Salute to Speed” launch event, so the special edition OnePlus 6T unit will launch during that event, almost certainly. OnePlus India has teased the arrival of this smartphone in India as well, on December 12, so it will basically get announced in India within 24 hours from its launch in the UK. That device will almost certainly be available in both Europe and the US, in case you were wondering, and chances are it will sport 8GB of RAM on the inside, and at least 256GB of storage, if OnePlus doesn’t opt to include 512GB of storage on the inside, and make it the most expensive OnePlus 6T unit to date.
Background: Teaming up with various brands and releasing special edition variants of its smartphone is not new for OnePlus, not at all. The company partnered up with a ton of companies in the past, back in 2017, the company partnered up with a Parisian retailer “colette” in order to introduce the OnePlus 3T x colette 20th Anniversary Edition. The OnePlus 5 x JCC+Limited Edition “Callection” was introduced as well in partnership with Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, while in April this year, the OnePlus 6 x Marvel Avengers Limited Edition OnePlus 6 was introduced as well. The OnePlus 5T Star Wars Limited Edition was announced back in 2017, in India. So as you can see, OnePlus has plenty of experience in the field, and this will not be the first special edition handset that the company is planning to release, not even close to that.
The OnePlus 6T arrived in 6GB and 8GB RAM variants, and was announced last month. The device is available in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB storage options, while it comes in Mirror Black, Midnight Black, and Thunder Purple color variants, the first two color options were available from the get-go, while the Thunder Purple variant arrived earlier this month. Having said that, the McLaren OnePlus 6T will almost definitely arrive in one variant only, a variant with 8GB of RAM and at least 256GB of storage, unless the company opts to introduce a 512GB OnePlus 6T for the first time. In addition to that, the device will quite probably have a special paint job applied to its body, some silver, and red hints in order to remind you of McLaren’s Formula 1 contraptions, maybe? It is not known just yet, as its design did not surface, but one thing is for sure, the phone will sport the same design as all the other OnePlus 6T units, only the colors will be different. Chances are that the company will include some special wallpapers inside as well, perhaps even icons, who knows.
As far as specs are concerned, those will be identical to all the other OnePlus 6T models, the only thing that will differentiate from some OnePlus 6T units is the RAM and storage count. The OnePlus 6T features a 6.41-inch fullHD+ Optic AMOLED display, while the phone includes a 3,700mAh battery on the inside. The phone is fueled by the Snapdragon 845 64-bit octa-core processor, while you will find 16 and 20-megapixel cameras on the back of this smartphone. Android 9 Pie comes pre-installed on the phone, while OnePlus’ OxygenOS skin comes pre-installed on it as well. The OnePlus 6T is made out of metal and glass, and it sports really thin bezels. It sports a really thin “chin” below the display, while its display notch is quite tiny as well, much smaller than the one on the OnePlus 6T. The OnePlus 6T differentiates from its predecessor in one more way, it does not sport a rear-facing capacitive fingerprint scanner, it comes with an in-display fingerprint scanner instead. A 3.5mm headphone jack is not included on the OnePlus 6T’s body, compared to the OnePlus 6, but you will get a Type-C to 3.5mm dongle in the box, same goes for an official silicone case as well.
Impact: Considering we’ve seen quite a few special edition OnePlus phones in the past, we pretty much know what to expect here, though there’s always a chance that the company may surprise us. Some special edition OnePlus smartphones arrived with different back covers compared to regular models, so there’s always a chance that the McLaren OnePlus 6T will sport with a grippier back cover, which will not be made out of glass, though it most probably will not, as glass looks much more premium, and McLaren probably wants to keep it that way, as the company puts a huge emphasis on design. It remains to be seen what colors will OnePlus include on this smartphone, in other words, how will it differentiate this handset from all the other OnePlus 6T models out there. If it ends up sporting 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, chances are it will cost as much as the most expensive OnePlus 6T variant that is available at the moment, which means it will set you back £579, €629 or $629, depending on where you live, of course. If the company ends up including 512GB of storage on the inside instead, you can add about €30 on top of those price points, and you will get a close estimate as to how much will it cost. We’re only guessing here, of course, as the design of the phone nor its RAM + storage setup did not leak just yet, but chances are they will before the phone gets announced, as that is exactly what happened in the past, so… we’ll probably have more detail before the phone becomes official. The device will probably go on sale as soon as it gets announced, or a day after it, in case you were wondering.