OnePlus released four devices in 2019. But well, it looks like this number will increase in the future. Just saying that as today, some renders of the OnePlus 8 Lite have started floating online. This indicates that we might end up seeing a Lite variant of the OnePlus 8 in 2020.
Even though the OnePlus 7T and 7T Pro were just recently released, the leaks of the OnePlus 8 started floating around right since October. At that time, OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro were revealed in the renders. Both of them looked pretty similar to each other with just some minor visible differences. But the OnePlus 8 Lite which can be seen in the new renders looks quite a lot different.
The OnePlus 8 Lite has been leaked through the CAD-based renders by one of the most popular leaksters – OnLeaks. The OnePlus 8 Lite, according to these renders, will have a 6.4-inch/6.5-inch punch-hole display. The punch-hole will be placed in the centre position – just like the Note 10 Series. It’ll be just a flat display unlike the Pro variants which had the curved displays. Even though I like curved displays, I know so many people who would appreciate this.
As there are no traces of the physical fingerprint sensor, it is expected that it’ll still retain the in-display fingerprint sensor. This also means that it might still retain the AMOLED display and not go down to LCD. It’s still unclear whether the Lite variant will have the 90Hz refresh rate or not.
On the back, we see a rectangular camera cut-out which looks quite similar to the S11+ camera. But instead of the sensors being randomly arranged, they’re properly arranged here. Also, it looks narrower than the S11+ camera cut-out. But that’s mainly because the OnePlus 8 Lite seems to have just two cameras – in the age where even budget devices have more cameras. On the right side of that camera module, we can see that there is something – either the ToF camera or the Laser Focus.
Overall, the device is 8.6mm thick which is thicker than the OnePlus 8 but thinner than the OnePlus 8 Pro – at least, according to the leaks. Buttons, SIM card slot, USB Type-C port as well as the speaker are placed at the same position as the other devices in the OnePlus 8 Series. There are no signs of the headphone jack though.
As the device carries the “Lite” branding, it is expected that it’ll lose out on some features of the regular flagship devices. If it ends up being in the mid-range segment, I would like it to have the Snapdragon 765G which was recently released at the Qualcomm Summit. The Snapdragon 865 which was also released there should be seen powering the OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus 8 Pro.
As of now, these are just the leaks and rumours of the OnePlus 8 Lite. But if they turn out to be true, it’ll be interesting to see how OnePlus ends up pricing this device in different markets. And as we move closer to the launch event – which should at least be a few months away – we’ll see more leaks, rumours and confirmation about these devices. And I hope I’ll be here covering them.
