OnePlus confirms OnePlus 16, its first flagship after US exit, is coming soon

Tushar Mehta / Android Authority

TL;DR OnePlus has officially confirmed that the OnePlus 16 is in the works.

The company says you should expect a 165Hz screen and a few other gaming-focused technologies.

OnePlus says the OnePlus 16 will launch later this year, with a previous leak pointing to October.

OnePlus recently announced that it was pulling out of North America and Europe, but that hasn’t stopped the brand from readying its first post-exit flagship phone. We’ve already seen plenty of OnePlus 16 leaks, but the firm has now formally acknowledged the phone’s existence, while revealing a few details.

OnePlus executive Liu Baoyou attended the Snapdragon Gaming Technology Awards in China (h/t: OnePlus Weibo) and used the occasion to confirm that the OnePlus 16 was indeed coming. An accompanying slide also revealed that the phone will have a 165Hz screen. Check out the machine-translated slide below.

The company also mentioned that the OnePlus 16 would offer two other technologies, namely its Wind Chaser gaming core and a gaming-focused triple-chip design. The former likely refers to the firm’s “chip-level gaming engine,” branded as the OP Gaming Core on the OnePlus 15. Meanwhile, the triple-chip setup likely refers to the combination of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro processor, a dedicated Wi-Fi chip for improved connectivity, and a touch-response chip for fast, smooth input. The company touted a similar triple-silicon combination on the OnePlus 15.

In other words, you should expect the OnePlus 16 to offer a strong gaming focus in line with the previous generation. The company also noted in its Weibo post that the phone will launch (unsurprisingly) in the second half of the year. For what it’s worth, a recent leak points to an October launch window.

The OnePlus 16 is tipped to arrive with the aforementioned Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro chipset, a 9,000mAh battery, and a 200MP periscope camera. So you should keep an eye on this device even if it’s not coming to your market, as it might be worth importing.