The OnePlus 10R is an upcoming affordable flagship from a brand that self-admittedly never settles, but as per a comprehensive leak that unravels its core specs and design, a boring rehash is apparently acceptable in 2022. As the name makes abundantly clear, the OnePlus 10R is a successor to the OnePlus 9R, a device that hardly made it out of the company’s key markets in Asia. The latter was somewhat of a bewildering phone, as it merged a high-end design with a yesteryear processor.
With the ‘R’ variants of its numbered flagships, OnePlus recycles the core elements of its high-end phones for another year and offers the package at a lower price. The strategy isn’t bad as it lets OnePlus hold on to its roots of selling powerful phones at an accessible price point. However, the company has undergone some significant business restructuring lately with the merger of its supply chain resources and development teams with Oppo. And it appears that the Oppo-ification of OnePlus will result in some unpopular moves, with the OnePlus 10R being one of them.
Official-looking product renders of the OnePlus 10R were posted by 91mobiles in collaboration with tipster Yogesh Brar. The phone features a clean design, and the sandstone finish on its rear panel is a welcome element, but there’s something else going on here. Save for the color, the design is virtually identical to Realme’s new GT Neo 3 that went official in China in March. The only discernible difference is the position of the LED flash in the camera island at the back. OnePlus has been known to take some “inspiration” from Oppo phones in the past, but the OnePlus 10R appears to be pushing things into the realm of an unapologetically lazy rehash. OnePlus’ latest phone is rumored to hit the shelves in May, but leaks have already spoiled any surprises OnePlus might have had in its launch kitty.
The OnePlus 10R will reportedly offer a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and support for HDR10+ content playback. OnePlus phones have lately preferred a selfie camera positioned in one of the top corners of the screen, but the OnePlus 10R is putting the selfie punch-hole in the middle. At its heart is the MediaTek Dimensity 8100 processor, making it only the third premium phone from the brand to skip on a Qualcomm chip, after the OnePlus Nord 2 and its CE variant. The MediaTek chip is paired with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage.
A 4,500 mAh battery keeps things running, but the marquee trick here is support for 150W fast charging. The OnePlus 10R is poised to go official as the first phone from the Chinese brand to offer those blazing fast charging figures. Interestingly, Realme has also showcased its take on the 150W fast charging tech with the GT Neo 3, which is not surprising. Oppo demoed the tech at MWC 2022 too. In the imaging department, the OnePlus 10R will reportedly offer a 50-megapixel snapper, taking cues from the vanilla OnePlus 9 series flagships. It sits alongside an 8-megapixel camera for ultra-wide photography and a 2-megapixel sensor for macro captures. Selfie and video calling duties have been deputed to a 16-megapixel camera. The OnePlus 10R is expected to launch in May 2022.
Sources: 91mobiles, Yogesh Brar/Twitter, Realme
