What makes a perfect smartphone? Some users will want the best camera phone, some to the best gaming phone, others still will pledge loyalty to the best iPhones or best Android phones. There’s no one concrete answer to this age-old question, but if you ask me, OnePlus got pretty close with its latest flagship.
The OnePlus 15 is pretty much a paragon of modern phone design. It’s got a big, beautiful display, a capable triple-camera system, a sleek and durable build, a huge 7,300mAh battery, and the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset. All this for $899.99 / £899: the OnePlus 15 really is about as good as it gets, hence our five-star OnePlus 15 review.
But now, thanks to new rumors, the possibility of something even better lurks on the horizon. According to tipster OnePlus Club (via GizmoChina), the next-generation OnePlus 16 could get its very own ‘Pro’ model, presumably named the OnePlus 16 Pro.
Though this rumored handset is probably a ways off yet (OnePlus only recently released the OnePlus 15 in the US), it’s likely to be one of the most powerful phones to ever hit shelves. OnePlus already equips each new generation of its flagship phones with great new hardware updates, so I imagine things would really have to kick up a notch to earn that ‘Pro’ moniker.
It can be hard to imagine what a new line of a next-gen phone series might look like; luckily, I know exactly where we – and, hopefully, OnePlus – can look for inspiration.
I’ve been daily driving the Oppo Find X9 Pro for a few months now, and am as enamored with it as I was on day one. As my recent Oppo Find X9 Pro review details, this is a monstrously powerful phone that goes further than any other I’ve used when it comes to photography, battery life, and display immersion.
The Oppo Find X9 Pro also looks a lot like the OnePlus 15 – tech fans and keen TechRadar readers will already know that the two brands are owned by the same parent company, BBK Electronics. This means that the two companies share plenty of software and hardware, leaving the Oppo and OnePlus experience feeling pretty similar.
However, Oppo has the upper hand over its more widely distributed sibling when it comes to super-premium Pro and Ultra handsets. The Find X9 Pro I’ve been using every day comes with a triple-camera system like the OnePlus 15, but with larger sensors across the board and a wild 200MP telephoto camera. Oppo also steals the title of battery champ from its sister brand, as the Find X9 Pro has a ludicrous 7,500mAh cell.
And there are further heights ahead – rumors of the Find X9 Ultra are now beginning to stir. If it follows the pattern of the Find X7 Ultra and Find X8 Ultra, the Find X9 Ultra could bring a 1-inch type sensor, and Android Headlines points to a fourth 10x telephoto camera. Sheesh. Oppo has never distributed its Ultra handsets to Western markets, but this is where OnePlus – with all of its clout and reputation – can really shine.
I could go on about my love for Oppo phones and the Find X9 Pro, but the reason I bring this all up is to illustrate that OnePlus already has a pool of ideas it can pull from to create a more powerful version of its flagship – it simply needs to take a peek at Oppo’s answer sheet.
And then there’s the upcoming OnePlus Turbo 6 series, a gaming-focused take on OnePlus’ flagship phones with 9,000mAh batteries – showing that OnePlus has already pushed the boat out in its domestic market of China.
Whether the OnePlus 16 Pro turns out to be the OnePlus Turbo repackaged for global markets, or a new model entirely, it’s likely to take the fight to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Google Pixel 10 Pro XL, and their successors.
The standard OnePlus 15 already goes toe-to-toe with these mainstream flagships, so there’s a good chance a Pro model could land with such impact that it changes how we appraise the best phones. And if a future Pro model continues the company’s pattern of undercutting the competition (by launching at, say, $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849), then it could be an unbeatable recommendation for Android fans and a real temptation for Apple lovers.
For now, though, I’m sticking with my Find X9 Pro and hoping that OnePlus is either firing up its own development labs or doing some tasteful copying from Oppo. The above is based mostly on rumors for now, so do keep an eye on our list of the best OnePlus phones for any new models.
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jamie.richards@futurenet.com (Jamie Richards)
