- The OnePlus 11 could be announced by December this year
- It could run on the next gen Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC
- OnePlus may follow Xiaomi in launching a phone with the new chip
OnePlus launched its flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 10T, in August this year. Interestingly, when the device was launched, rumours suggested that it was the company’s last flagship phone for some time — hinting that the company may not launch a flagship smartphone any time in the immediate future. Such plans appear to have changed now, with reports suggesting the launch of a OnePlus 11 (or 11 Pro, according to some rumours) — which could happen as early as the end of this year itself.
What the OnePlus 11 could feature
According to reports, courtesy China-based tipster Digital Chat Station on social media platform Weibo, the company is likely working on a new smartphone that would feature the next generation flagship chip from chipmaker Qualcomm. Internally dubbed the Qualcomm SM8550, the chipset is expected to be Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 — a follow up to the present Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 that is in use in most premium phones — including the OnePlus 10T itself.
Unfortunately, not much else is known so far about the upcoming OnePlus 11, or the next generation Qualcomm chip as well. The latter is expected to be a 4nm chip. In June, reports stated that Samsung Semiconductor is set to start the mass production process of 3nm chips for Qualcomm, but given that the chips are expected to become available to phone makers as early as November itself, it is unlikely that the 3nm chips would see production by end-2022 itself.
It would therefore remain to be seen if the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 makes a big jump in performance over its predecessor, or remains to be an iterative upgrade. The present flagship has been a reliable chipset, and features in nearly every high performance flagship smartphone right now.
Reports further state that Xiaomi could be the first OEM to launch a smartphone based on the new Snapdragon chip, but OnePlus is likely to follow soon with the OnePlus 11.
