After weeks of teasing, OnePlus officially confirms upcoming OnePlus 6T will boast in-screen fingerprint scanner in addition to face unlock feature.
Pete Lau, OnePlus CEO and founder, has revealed that the company tried to incorporate the in-screen biometric sensor first in OnePlus 5T prototype, but it failed to get acceptable yield in terms of False Rejection Rate (FRR)—accurately detecting the device owner's finger impression and quickly unlocking the screen.
Now, after several more months of testing, the company is finally able to get good results and are ready to showcase feature dubbed as 'Screen Unlock' on OnePlus 6T. It has placed the sensor just above the base for easy access to the fingers to reach and unlock the screen. However, the implementation of the in-screen fingerprint sensor comes with a price and a costly one too.
Lau in his exclusive interview with CNET has claimed that the company had to remove the 3.5mm audio jack, as the in-screen sensor's circuit placed near the base required more space and had to make the difficult choice to let go off the former.
Talking about the price, OnePlus 6T is expected to cost more than the OnePlus 6 (starting price $499), probably $50 extra. Unlike previous T versions, which used to come with upgraded internal hardware over the generic predecessor, the 2018-series will have completely new design language in addition to increased battery capacity.
Recently leaked images have indicated that the OnePlus 6T will lose the iPhone X-like notch seen in the OnePlus 6 and embrace Essential Phone's water drop design. It will have just a front camera sensor occupying the small space on top and rest of them including companion sensors and speakers are hidden under the screen.
Rumour has it that, the device might come with 3,610mAh battery, 310mAh (9.39%) more than the OnePlus 6 (3,300mAh). It is also expected to boast faster Warp Charge (aka Dash Charge) technology.
However, the company is still not convinced to implement wireless charging for the OnePlus 6T, as they think the speed of charging is slow. They are working hard on it and once they manage to attain the speed on par with the Warp charge and contain the over-heating issue, only then they will think of bringing it to their device.
Other expected specifications include Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core backed by Android Oreo OS and come in multiple RAM + storage configuration—6GB RAM+64GB storage, 8GB RAM+128GB storage and 8GB RAM+256GB storage.
OnePlus 6T is said to come with a dual-snapper on the back and a selfie camera with wide angle Field Of View (FOV) on the front.
The new OnePlus 6T is expected to break covers in the third week of October 2018.