OnePlus 16 выходит с самой высокой частотой обновления экрана и более высокой ценой

After teasing its newest OnePlus 16 flagship for the past couple of weeks with appetite-wetting specs bits and morcels, OnePlus just unveiled the phone with the fastest display refresh rate, but that's not all there is to it.

According to the OnePlus product manager, the company stuck with the 165 Hz refresh rate as the default for the sake of frame stability, leaving the other record setting, 185 Hz mode, for tailored gaming titles.

Performance and display

The OnePlus 16 is powered by Qualcomm’s 2 nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, which OnePlus calls the sixth generation Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme. In any case, it is the fastest chip available for smartphones, with peak core clock speeds hitting 5 GHz for the first time, and is paired with fast LPDDR5X memory. 

OnePlus is also using an improved Glacier cooling system with a vapor chamber that it says is 40% better than before. Custom network, display, and touch controller chips aim to improve connectivity and responsiveness. The OnePlus 16 will run ColorOS 17 based on Android 17 in China. 

Oppo, and, by extension, OnePlus, have been at the forefront of phone display technology for a few years now, bringing a number of firsts to market. The companies often work alongside display makers, fronting them the equipment and even workers needed to craft a panel with the desired capabilities. The 6.78-inch flat OLED panel is made possible by BOE's fourth-gen Oriental Screen technology, and OnePlus says this allowed it to make the first phone with a display running at a native systemwide 165 Hz refresh rate, going up to the whopping 185 Hz in supported games. 

Battery

The 9,000 mAh battery is the main upgrade over the OnePlus 15’s 7,300 mAh cell. Charging is rated at 100 W wired and 50 W wireless, and OnePlus promises 80% charge in 37 minutes on the wire, despite the giant battery size. The company also claims at least five years of battery health before capacity dips below 80%.  

Cameras

• 200 MP wide-angle camera: f/1.6, 23 mm equivalent focal length, 7P lens, autofocus, two-axis OIS.
• 50 MP ultra-wide-angle camera: f/2.0, 16 mm equivalent focal length, 6P lens, autofocus, 116° FOV.
• 50 MP telephoto camera: f/2.6, 73 mm equivalent focal length, 1G3P lens, autofocus, two-axis OIS.
• 50 MP front camera: f/2.0, 18 mm equivalent focal length, 5P lens, autofocus.

The OnePlus 15 had slightly downgraded camera hardware compared with the OnePlus 13. The OnePlus 16 comes to fix that with a 200 MP main camera (1/1.4 inch, f/1.6), a 50 MP ultrawide, and a 50 MP 3x telephoto lens using the IMX882 sensor. 

The telephoto sensor is a 1/1.95 inch unit, much larger than the 1/2.76 inch Isocell JN5 from last year. OnePlus promises full resolution cinematic 200 MP landscape shots with an XPAN style mode at a 65:24 aspect ratio. 

Design and configurations

The phone comes in three colors: Tomorrow’s Starlight, Dark Forest, and Mars Masterpiece. Tomorrow’s Starlight adds LED lighting on the back that can display a large number 16. Memory and storage options are 12 GB / 256 GB, 12 GB / 512 GB, 16 GB / 512 GB, and 16 GB / 1 TB. The 8 GB model from earlier leaks is not part of the lineup. 

OnePlus 16 price and release date

OnePlus has now announced official prices in China. The 12 GB / 256 GB model costs 5,699 yuan (about $848) at launch, or 5,199 yuan (about $774) after the national subsidy. The 12 GB / 512 GB version is 6,499 yuan (about $967), or 5,999 yuan (about $893) after regional subsidy. 

The 16 GB / 512 GB version is 7,199 yuan (about $1,071), or 6,699 yuan (about $997), and the 16 GB / 1 TB model is 8,199 yuan (about $1,220), or 7,699 yuan (about $1,146). These are introductory prices that run from October 12 to November 13, and subsidized prices depend on local policy, says OnePlus. Sales start on October 13 at 10:00 local time.

The starting price is 1,700 yuan (about $253) above the OnePlus 15’s 3,999 yuan (about $595) launch price and 600 yuan (about $89) above the OnePlus 15’s current 5,099 yuan (about $759). It is also 300 yuan (about $45) below the iQOO 16’s 5,999 yuan (about $893) starting price. Unfortunately, the cheaper 8 GB model and the 5,499 yuan figure from earlier leaks did not materialize, and Chinese outlets blame the OnePlus 16 price rise on memory and chip costs, as could be expected. 

No matter how one slices it, however, the OnePlus 16 seems like a beast of a gaming phone, what with the Elite Gen 6 chipset, the 185 Hz display refresh, and the giant silicon-carbon battery, but it is also a great all-rounder that is sure to stir some excitement among OnePlus fans, and not only in China where it is launching.