OnePlus has grown leaps and bounds over the past years, especially recently with releases like OnePlus 6. The Chinese smartphone maker has developed a pattern in recent years to launch two flagships a year, first one with incremental upgrades compared to its predecessor and the second with nominal changes to stay up to date with the current trend. Based on that, OnePlus 6T is expected to be launched as early as next month.
That's pretty exciting, right? But OnePlus is trying to take our eyes off the ball by bringing a change in the pattern on how it does things. In a post shared on China's Weibo platform from the company's official handle on Sunday, OnePlus has set a new goal for January 15, 2019.
The Weibo post simply shows the OnePlus 6 smartphone with the Calendar app marked for January 15, 2019. There's a reminder set for 3 - 4 p.m. labelled under "detection of new semester goals." Several reports are suggesting that this could be the date OnePlus will launch the OnePlus 6T, but there are other reports suggesting the arrival of OnePlus 7 on this date.
Based on the information we've gathered from our trusted sources, OnePlus 6T's launch is just around the corner, which essentially means sometime in October. There is no way OnePlus 6T will be delayed until 2019, disturbing the whole flagship upgrade cycle.
On the other hand, OnePlus has traditionally launched new flagships in the second quarter of each year. Bringing up the launch date of OnePlus 7 by almost four months doesn't seem like a logical plan. This leaves us with one other possibility – OnePlus could be making an important product-related announcement that will strengthen its position as a flagship killer.
After some educated guesses, OnePlus could probably announce its stand on 5G connectivity. The company's CEO Pete Lau has already confirmed that OnePlus will launch a 5G compatible smartphone next year, which only points towards OnePlus 7.
With several Chinese brands such as Oppo, Lenovo, Vivo and Xiaomi racing to launch a 5G-compatible smartphone, OnePlus wouldn't want to be left behind in the race. It is possible the company will jump the gun and reveal the OnePlus 7 feature early, becoming the first company to officially confirm 5G compatibility in its upcoming phone. That is if no other company beats OnePlus to it.
All this is based purely on speculations and guesses, so there's no need to get excited just yet. But it is equally important to keep an open ear in the weeks to come for more updates on this.
