Under Oppo’s leadership, OnePlus has undeniably become one of the most unpredictable major global smartphone vendors (for better and for worse) in terms of high-end product launches and launch schedules.
Following a year with no “vanilla” flagship whatsoever, a Pro model released in China months before the rest of the world… for some reason, and a T-branded variant with no 2020 predecessor, the company is reportedly gearing up to unveil a non-Pro OnePlus 11 device with Pro-grade specs. Wait, what?
All of the specifications revealed last month are still on the table, mind you, which almost certainly means there will be no ultra-high-end handset officially labeled OnePlus 11 Pro.
In no way etched in stone for the time being, this rumor has an extraordinarily high chance of materializing given the reputations and track records of both Max J. and Steve H. The former Twitter tipster adds that OnePlus is planning to “skip” the Pro moniker “this time”, so at least in theory, an 11 Pro model could come at some point after “Q1 2023.”
It is however much more plausible that the company will stick to a single flagship release strategy for both the first and second half of next year, following the “pro-specced” OnePlus 11 with a slightly more affordable and similarly premium 11T in late summer or early fall.
The non-Pro (in name) but very-much-Pro (in specs) OnePlus 11, remember, is expected to blow all of the best phones available in the US out of the water in at least one department, pairing its state-of-the-art 100W charging technology with a 5,000mAh battery while packing an as-yet-unreleased Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, up to 16 gigs of RAM and 256GB internal storage space, an impressive-sounding 50 + 48 + 32MP triple rear-facing camera system, and a 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED display with 1440p resolution.
