The OnePlus 10 is the next flagship phone from OnePlus, following on from the recent China-only OnePlus 9RT.

It’s not likely to launch alone though, and we’re expecting to see it joined by a 10R and 10 Pro – the latter of which we’ve already seen in renders that reveal an alleged redesign.

Unfortunately we’ll have to wait until 2022 for the next flagship offering from the Chinese giant, but it’s getting closer and closer. Here’s what we know so far about the OnePlus 10.

When is the OnePlus 10 release date?

We don’t have an official release date for the OnePlus 10 at the time of writing, but tipster Yogesh Brar told 91mobiles that the phone has already entered private testing, and that it may launch “by late January or early February.”

Max Jambor has complicated things by sharing an image suggesting that this is when the phone will launch in China, but that it could then have a later global rollout – typical of other Chinese manufacturers, but not the usual OnePlus way.

pic.twitter.com/C6v5ohqJcV

— Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) November 17, 2021

Curiously, that infographic specifically references the 10 Pro – will the regular 10 have a different launch date? Or will there only be a 10 Pro this time around?

In any case, February would represent a relatively early launch for OnePlus, as compared to previous models:

As you can see, the company’s flagships appear in the spring, but the earliest they’ve launched so far is March.

How much will the OnePlus 10 cost?

It’s the same case with pricing, as OnePlus hasn’t announced the new models, we don’t have confirmed pricing. Again, we turn to the previous generations for clues. Here’s the costs of the last few models that launched in the West:

• OnePlus 9: £629/$729/€699
• OnePlus 9 Pro: £829/€899
• OnePlus 8T: £549/$649
• OnePlus 8: £599/$699
• OnePlus 8 Pro: £799/$899

Prices have been reasonably stable, with the regular models coming in at around the £600/$700 mark, while the Pro editions are in the £800/$900/€900 region. We can’t see any obvious reasons why this would change with the next generation.

What new features will we see in the OnePlus 10?

Up until recently, the rumour mill has been very quiet when it comes to the OnePlus 10 range. This could be due to the OnePlus 9RT only appearing recently, so the focus has been more on that particular model.

That changed with the arrival of the first renders based on leaks for the OnePlus 10 Pro. OnLeaks and Zouton partnered up for the images, which reveal black and green variants of the 10 Pro with an unusual camera design – though they claim that the phone will also be available in white and light blue finishes.

The leakers say that on the front you’ll find a 6.7in curved display – similar to previous Pro entries – with a punch-hole selfie camera in the top-left corner. 

It will reportedly be 8.5mm thick, and 163.0 x 73.8mm across the front.

Then there’s that camera module. It reveals a triple camera array with a flash, which the leakers say includes a 5x optical zoom – no big surprise. It’s the design that’s more unusual, with the way it wraps around the frame calling to mind the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, though the module doesn’t quite extend all the way to the top of the phone.

OnLeaks says that these renders are based on photos of a prototype, though warns that OnePlus tends to create lots of differing prototypes, so expect the final design to differ at least a little from this.

Of course, this is also specifically for the Pro, so we don’t know how the regular OnePlus 10 might differ from this – could it look the same, or similar with fewer lenses, or look entirely different?

Elsewhere, it’s been something of a barren wasteland in terms of rumours. India-based tech leaker Yogesh Brar is one of the only ones to put forward anything of note when he tweeted that the new OnePlus 10 range would be basically the OnePlus 9 with some spit and polish – though it’s not clear how that lines up with OnLeaks’ reveal of what looks like a major redesign.

So OnePlus is working on series 10 phones which are being pitched as polished series 9 models. Apart from this a bunch of Nord series models are on the roster as well. They are expected to announce some new accessories at the next launch.

— Yogesh Brar (@heyitsyogesh) September 2, 2021

Interestingly, he followed this up with another post that stated the OnePlus 10 range would feature Samsung’s E5 LTPO OLED panels for the displays.

Well since the 9RT renders are out, there isn’t much left to leak.Will try and bring pricing info.

Diverting focus on the next flagship.

OnePlus 10 series units have an E5 LTPO OLED panel which seems to be norm now for flagships. Currently capped at 120Hz

— Yogesh Brar (@heyitsyogesh) October 8, 2021

These are more energy efficient than the E4 panels used on the OnePlus 9 and have been making their debuts on devices such as iQOO8 Pro and Vivo X70. They have a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, but as the OnePlus 9 already boasts that feature, it will be the energy consumption and potential brighter display capabilities that will make the E5 an interesting upgrade.

On the processor side of things, the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro (not to mention the 9RT) all use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chipset. This means that the new models will likely take up the new flagship silicon in the form of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 895/898.

Finally, Mukul Sharma has predicted that the 10 Pro model will offer 125W wired charging – the fastest yet from OnePlus – though doesn’t say what speed the regular 10 will hit. The OnLeaks/Zouton report says this will top up the 10 Pro’s 5000mAh battery to full in just 20 minutes.

One thing we do know is that the software side of things might see some changes. In a blog post (September 2021), company founder Pete Lau confirmed that after the merger with fellow manufacturer Oppo, the two brands will fold their OS divisions into a single team.

This means that OxygenOS (OnePlus) and ColorOS (Oppo) will become a unified codebase. Lau stated, ‘I believe that the unified operating system will keep the DNA of OxygenOS that many of you love so much, while also giving you an upgraded experience overall.’

He also confirmed that the new software will appear on its next generation of devices, ‘In terms of timeline, for global OnePlus devices, we will first introduce the integrated OS with the launch of our next flagship series in 2022. The integration will be fully completed together with the next major Android update in 2022.’

So, the expected OnePlus 10 could be one of the first (if not the first) to receive the new operating system.

Other than that, how the OnePlus 10 range will line up still remains something of a mystery.

OnePlus 10 wishlist 

If there’s a few things we’d like to see OnePlus bring to its range, these are top of our list.

Waterproofing

OnePlus has traditionally not had its devices certified with an IP rating for water and dust proofing, before begrudgingly adding it to the Pro models only. Initially, this was thought be a money-saving technique as the devices were competitively priced against other premium phones (gaining OnePlus the ‘flagship-killer’ motif). Now, with the cost of its premium device going up, it’s about time the company guaranteed that the regular OnePlus 10 will survive being dropped in the bath.

Better cameras

As we mentioned above, the OnePlus 9 has issues with its cameras. Even though the company teamed up with the legendary Hasselblad for the cameras, we weren’t impressed with the results. This time around, OnePlus needs to up its game and fix the problems so that its premium phones have premium photographic capabilities.

Get rid of spec-specific colours

One of the dafter decisions OnePlus made with the 9 and 9 Pro was to only offer certain colours depending on the spec configuration you chose. This is beyond stupid, so with the OnePlus 10 and 10 Pro we want all colours available on all models.  

To see what the new OnePlus models have to compete with, be sure to read our guide to the best smartphones.