OnePlus 9 series is expected to launch in Q1 of 2021 and unlike every time the company is expected to launch three new smartphones, instead of two namely OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Pro, OnePlus 9E. Now, a new report by Android Central notes that the OnePlus 9E will launch as the OnePlus 9 Lite. The report further adds that all these devices will launch in Q1 next year and some of the specifications of the OnePlus 9 Lite have also been titled.
According to the report, the OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus 9 Pro will be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC but the OnePlus Lite, on the other hand, will draw its power from last years Snapdragon 865 SoC. For those unaware, this is the same SoC found on this year’s OnePlus 8T. Not just the SoC, the OnePlus 9 Lite might also borrow most of the specifications from the OnePlus 8T. The 9 Lite could feature an AMOLED display with a 90Hz and 120Hz refresh rate and the company is likely to add a 65W fast charging support. The report further mentions that the camera specs might not differ a lot from the OnePlus 8T. Now, to differentiate the OnePlus 9 Lite from the 8T, the OnePlus could launch the device with a plastic back, which also helps the company to keep the cost low.
We think the OnePlus 9 Lite will cross a careful balance between high-demanded features by removing not so important premium stuff to keep its prices down. OnePlus 9 Lite coming with last year’s flagship SoC is not necessarily a bad thing. As a matter of fact in day-to-day usage, one would not feel any difference unless compared with Snapdragon 888 side-by-side. We have seen this move on various other company’s in the past including Poco and Realme. With that said, the OnePlus 9 Lite could start at around $600, which roughly translates to 44,300 INR. Consider the ‘Lite’ variant at 40K segment, we can expect the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro to cost much-higher compared to OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro.
While the affordable flagship OnePlus definitely what we need right now but OnePlus 9 Lite launch may affect the sales of the OnePlus 8T. OnePlus has recently shaken its lineup with the launch of the OnePlus 8T. I mean, if you may have noticed, the 8T is not accompanied by an 8T Pro. It is really hard to understand OnePlus’ game plan here. Considering the OnePlus 9 Lite launch next year, it would have been great to see a Pro 8T variant with all top of the line features. Not only this, OnePlus seems like it has also messed with OnePlus Nord too. OnePlus has announced the Nord N10 5G, which does not have a lot of changes and seemed to be so similar as to a version coursed to give 5G buyers an affordable option.
