OnePlus 16 Launches in China With 9,000mAh Battery, but It Won't Reach the US or Europe
OnePlus launched the OnePlus 16 in China, a flagship with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip, a 9,000mAh silicon-carbon battery and a 185Hz OLED screen. It will not be sold in the US or Europe, markets the company left this summer.
Like earlier OnePlus flagships, the 16 is built around performance. It runs on a Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset with up to 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM. A 9,000mAh silicon-carbon battery powers the device, which The Verge described as one of the largest batteries yet seen in an Android flagship. Charging is rated at 100W over a cable and 50W wirelessly.
The display moves to a 185Hz OLED panel for the first time in a OnePlus phone. The high refresh rate supports 185fps gaming in compatible titles and can run at up to 165Hz across the system interface, which The Verge said is a first for panels of this kind.
Cameras, historically not OnePlus's strongest feature, received what the report called a meaningful upgrade. The main camera uses a 200-megapixel sensor measuring 1/1.4-inch-type with an f/1.4 aperture, giving it higher resolution, a larger sensor and a faster lens than the OnePlus 15's main camera. The Verge said the OnePlus 15's camera struggled in low light, and the new hardware is intended to address that. The rear array is completed by 50-megapixel ultrawide and telephoto cameras, with the telephoto sensor enlarged to 1/1.95-inch.
The phone also carries a design detail: its silver finish includes LED lighting that forms a large "16" and what the company says is a set of galactic coordinates. The shapes of the lights are fixed, but they reportedly flash in different rhythms to signal incoming calls, messages, battery level and other notifications.
The OnePlus 16 starts at ¥5,699 in China, or roughly $850. With OnePlus no longer operating in the US or Europe, The Verge reported there is no prospect of the phone launching in either market.