OnePlus 3: All that we know about this flagship; specs, design, price and more

File photo: OnePlus 2

We've been hearing a lot of rumors about the OnePlus 3, until OnePlus CEO, Pete Lau took to Weibo, a popular Chinese microblogging site to say that the upcoming flagship from the company, will feel good to hold. it appears as the company is following it's usual strategy of building the hype around their upcoming product and this looks an attempt to do the same.

Reportedly, the device is expected sometime in Q2 of the year. There have been multiple rumours surrounding the flagship, yet nothing is officially announced by the company apart from the promise to introduce "a better buying process." So maybe it will be a quite better invite system or no invites at all.Well, let's hope for the best! :P  Here's what rumours have to say.

Now, prolific tipster @evleaks has posted a new image of the OnePlus 3. He also confirms an AMOLED display and 3000mAh battery for the device.

There's that logo. OnePlus 3 with AMOLED display and 3000mAh battery. pic.twitter.com/zvat9NaFd4

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 17, 2016

Design

We actually don't know how the OnePlus 3 will look, but a few leaked renders have been hinting at a sleek design. The leaked images were concept renders of the OnePlus 3 with a slimmer design, glass front and the back with a textured material (which will probably be replaceable). The rest seemed familiar with a metal frame that holds it all together. The most recently leaked images show a physical home button that will probably double as a fingerprint sensor. The power button is on the right and the volume rocker on the left.

Though not mentioned, we can expect swappable back covers. Taiwanese blogger, Mobile-dad, had said the upcoming OnePlus 3 will have a completely revamped design,  similar to what Pei conveyed to CNET a month ago. Some reported changes include two speakers, one each at the top and bottom, with a large display sporting a larger screen-to-body ratio when compared to the OnePlus 2 and a shutter key for the camera. 

Display, Processor and storage

While a Full HD display has been a consistent rumour, some report point out a 5-inch display size. There is no word on variants in terms of display size, as seen in other popular devices, but the company has two variants in terms of memory. This was brought to light by leaked benchmark listings. 

It is to come armed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC with an Adreno 530 GPU. Users are expected to get two options in the form of 4GB and 6GB RAM. These will be available with 32GB and 64GB onboard storage respectively. There is also some talk of an even higher-end version with 128GB of storage.

The OnePlus 3 was spotted by Winfuture.de in a benchmark listing on GeekBench revealing a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820-powered smartphone tagged as ‘Rain Rain A3000’. While the rest of the specifications reveal the usual standard flagship hardware, it is the 6GB RAM that really grabs your attention.

Camera, OS and battery

The device is likely to come with a 16MP rear and 8MP front camera.  The phone is expected to run Android 6.0.1-based OxygenOS 3.0. A 3500mAh battery completes the package. Another listing from benchmarking service called GFXBench shows another handset tagged as the ‘Rain A3000’ but with 4GB RAM. Have a look at the specs:

As of May 5, new details have emerged regarding the OnePlus 3's battery pack; it'll allegedly carry quite a big 3,500mAh cell - the word comes via sources speaking to Chinese publication MyDrivers. A 3,500mAh unit isn't a huge uplift from the previous gen, however, the OnePlus 2 packed a 3,300mAh battery.

The company is also known to have filed a patent for Dash Charge, which is a quick charging technology. The OnePlus 2 missed out on Quick Charging due to its USB Type C port in spite of coming armed with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 810. Now, with the Dash Charge patent, it does seem that OnePlus is preparing to go head to head with it competitors.

On paper, the OnePlus 3 looks good, but let's not forget the plethora of budget flagships out there that have intensified the smartphone market.

We wonder if the company has planned any India-centric content partnerships. There is no word on pricing, but some reports are hinting at a price tag that reads RMB 1,999, which translates to about Rs 20,400. Going by rumours, the launch date could be either May 18, which is tomorrow, or May 28 that is good 10 days away.