OnePlus 6: price, specs and reviews

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has taken the wraps off what looks set to become one of the most significant new mobiles of the year.

Called the OnePlus 6, the flagship handset is replacing the OnePlus 5T and features a far sleeker design, a revamped camera and a punchy AMOLED display.

Tipped to give top-tier devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S9 and iPhone X a run for their money, here’s what you need to know about the OnePlus 6:

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How much does it cost and when is it out?

Fans won’t have to wait long to get their hands on the OnePlus 6, which hits stores next Tuesday.

The company is also offering tech lovers the chance to buy the phone a day before its official launch, with a series of pop-up events across the US, Europe, India and China on Monday, TechRadar reports.

OnePlus will keep fans in the loop over the locations of each pop-up store via its website.

Pre-orders can currently be placed exclusively on the O2 site, with prices starting at £499.99 for a 64GB model on a pay-as-you-go deal. Customers wanting to spread the costs can grab the 64GB version for £50 per month over a two-year contract, with a initial payment of £9.99.

What’s new on the OnePlus 6?

Just about everything, it seems. The OnePlus 6 is the same size as the OnePlus 5T, but the new model’s 6.28in AMOLED display is 0.27in larger than that on the old model, says Gizmodo.

That increased size is down to the significantly thinner bezels on the OnePlus 6, with 84% of the front panel taken up by the screen, which offers a crisp resolution of 2280x1080 and an aspect ratio of 19:9.

After being omitted from the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T, optical images stabilisation has been reintroduced on the new handset, Wired reports. The feature makes the camera’s housing “a little thicker”, but stabilised 4K video footage and improved low-light image quality will no doubt be a hit with consumers.

The cameras themselves consist of a 20-megapixel and 16-megapixel twin-lens camera at the back, with a 16-megapixel lens at the front of the device.

Other notable additions include the small notch at the top of the display, which houses the phone’s front-facing camera and sensors. It’s a similar look to the notch that debuted on Apple’s iPhone X and that has since cropped up on numerous other smartphones.

What do the critics think?

Full reviews for the OnePlus 6 are expected when the smartphone launches next week, but critics have given their first impressions of the new mobile.

The OnePlus 6 may be the most expensive OnePlus model to launch, but Stuff says the new mobile “offers incredibly good value for your cash” compared with other smartphones within its price range.

The device has “everything you’d expect from a flagship phone”, the tech site says, including an edge-to-edge AMOLED display and “ridiculously speedy” processing power.

According to Trusted Reviews, while the smartphone’s display “is hardly a slouch”, it isn’t quite up to the same quality as its more expensive rival, the Samsung Galaxy S9.

The Samsung offers a higher resolution and greater range of colours than the Chinese-made smartphone, the reviews site says. The S9 can also stream high dynamic range (HDR) content, which boasts stronger contrast ratios over a regular display, from Amazon or Netflix - a feature that isn’t available on the OnePlus 6.

“There are disappointments” with the OnePlus 6, agrees Alphr. The absence of “fully certified water resistance” may frustrate buyers, while the lack of a microSD expansion port to increase the smartphone’s storage will leave fans “baffled”.

Nevertheless, these are only minor flaws considering the smartphone’s relatively cheap price and impressive performance, the site concludes.