- OnePlus will no longer outfit its phones with the iconic Alert Slider switch
- Future OnePlus phones will feature an iPhone-style customizable button
- The button will offer the same functionality as the Alert Slider plus new features
OnePlus will replace the iconic Alert Slider found on most of its premiere phones with an Apple-style customizable button, according to a new statement by the company’s CEO.
In a post to the OnePlus Community forum, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau confirmed that the Alert Slider would be replaced due to the limited functionality offered by the three-position slider.
This means the successors to the OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R will likely lack one of the brand’s most iconic features.
Lau gave few details about the Alert Slider’s successor, only that it would offer more functionality than the current three-position switch, and that switching between sound profiles without unlocking the phone would still be possible.
In fact, the post implies that Lau personally insisted that the new button should be able to offer the same functionality as the outgoing Alert Slider, as well as new and expanded functions that are yet to be revealed.
Overall, this new OnePlus button sounds theoretically identical to Apple’s Action Button, first seen with the release of the iPhone 15 Pro – so we can look at the iPhone to make some educated guesses about the new button’s potential capabilities.
The Action Button found on the iPhone can be assigned to a long list of functions, including turning the flashlight on and off, opening the camera, activating a shortcut, or toggling do not disturb.
OnePlus takes fairly liberal inspiration from Apple when it comes to software – there is a simulated Dynamic Island on the latest OnePlus 13 interface, for instance – so I wouldn’t be surprised to see something similar from the company’s future handsets.
Lau’s post mentions that backlash to the OnePlus 10T, which launched in 2022 sans Alert Slider, inspired internal debate about the future of the iconic hardware feature, and that removing the slider will allow for better use of the devices’ internal space. OnePlus has yet to announce the first product that will feature the new button.
The end of an era
OnePlus is the last remaining major phone maker to fit its handsets with a physical ringer switch – though, as this news entails, not for much longer.
I’ve always found the ringer switch affixed to OnePlus phones to be a useful addition – other functions are easy enough to find in the UI or on the lock screen, and it’s nice to be able to switch my phone into silent mode without even looking at the display when I’m taking a break.
Perhaps even more important is the character the alert slider brings to OnePlus phones – it’s a unique feature that made the best OnePlus phones stand out in a field of increasingly homogenous phone designs, lending as much personality as utility.
When I was daily driving the OnePlus Open, I used the slider every day, and I still use it whenever I’m testing a OnePlus or Oppo phone (Oppo and OnePlus are related companies under the same umbrella parent). Tactility is a rare and underrated thing in modern phone design, so I’ll be genuinely sad to see the Alert Slider go.
What do you think about this decision? Should OnePlus have kept the Alert Slider as is? Let us know in the comments.
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jamie.richards@futurenet.com (Jamie Richards)
