OnePlus 16 will reportedly feature a redesigned rear camera module.
OnePlus 16 is confirmed to succeed last year's OnePlus 15 (pictured)
OnePlus 15 was launched in India in November, weeks after the smartphone was unveiled in China. The handset is currently the tech firm's flagship offering, which is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset from Qualcomm. Now, the smartphone maker has announced that OnePlus 15's successor, dubbed OnePlus 16, will be launched in China soon. Apart from this, a company executive also revealed that the upcoming OnePlus 16 will be equipped with multiple gaming-focused features to offer performance enhancements over its predecessor. It will also be powered by an unspecified Snapdragon SoC. Separately, a purported image of the handset has surfaced online, revealing its design.
During the Snapdragon Gaming Technology Awards 2026 on Thursday, OnePlus China's General Manager, Liu Baoyou, confirmed that the OnePlus 16 will be launched in the second half of this year with three “exclusive gaming technologies” (translated from Chinese). The company executive announced that the upcoming flagship OnePlus smartphone will be equipped with the “Wind Chaser Gaming Core”, “High Refresh Rate”, and “E-Sports Triple Chip”.
OnePlus 16 will sport a 165Hz display
Photo Credit: Weibo/ OnePlus
The tech firm claims that this will allow the phone to deliver enhanced gaming performance. The OnePlus 16 is also confirmed to launch with a display that will deliver up to a 165Hz refresh rate, which is the same as its predecessor. It will also offer up to 165 fps gaming on select titles. For reference, the OnePlus 15 features Qualcomm's flagship 3nm octa-core Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, along with an Adreno 840 GPU, G2 Wi-Fi chip, and a Touch Response chip.
Separately, Gizmochina reports that the first marketing poster for the upcoming handset has surfaced online, hinting at the phone's design. The OnePlus 16 will reportedly sport a redesigned rear camera module. With last year's model, the tech firm moved towards a square-shaped camera island. However, with the OnePlus 16, the smartphone maker could transition back to a circular camera module design, as seen on the OnePlus 13 and older models.
Interestingly, the purported OnePlus 16 image shows a dual rear camera unit, instead of a triple camera system found on its predecessors. Recently, a report highlighted that the OnePlus 16 will be powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro chipset and pack a 9,000mAh battery. It might also carry a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto camera with up to 3x optical zoom.
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