OnePlus gets a lot of attention for a relatively young brand (though maybe not as much as when they were young and seriously trying to upset the market's balance) and they make good use of it with solid entries each year. We saw the OnePlus 12 and 12R released internationally in January and they're both solid smartphones.
However, if there's one thing that we hoped for with the OnePlus 12, it was a new look. Unfortunately, that prayer wasn't answered but our fortune might change for the better with the OnePlus 13 according to early leaks.
The OnePlus 13 Looks Set For A Brand-New Design After So Long
If the early leaks are to be believed, we won't need to put up with a recycled design for the OnePlus 13 series as it looks like a facelift is on its way. The leaks broke through Weibo, thanks to user Digital Chat Station. The original source is in Chinese but says that the design will be changed and OnePlus will remove the “family-style hinge”. We're not too sure what that term refers to, but I reckon it is referring to the circular camera cutout and the lens arranged in it — a quick search for “Chinese family style” will show you what I mean a bit better.
Since the OnePlus 10, the company's devices have had roughly the same design. The OnePlus 11 and OnePlus 12 would take a trained eye to differentiate (the black camera cutout is the major hint that you're looking at an 11), but besides changing from a square camera cutout on the OnePlus 10 series to a circular one after, the phone's maintain a very similar design language.
So, the new design should be very welcome. The comments from other Weibo users under that post even show many of them referring to the current look as a “toilet seat”, and I hate that I can see what they're talking about.
The OnePlus 13 Lineup Will Switch Over To An Ultrasonic Fingerprint Reader
Thanks to another post on Weibo, from a user called Wisdom Pikachu, the OnePlus 13 devices might be the first of the company's devices to move away from the allure of optical fingerprint readers onto the ultrasonic models, generally agreed to be the superior option.
OnePlus has always had some of the fastest fingerprint readers in the game, but moving to ultrasonic comes with a lot of perks. The phone won't need to blast a light at your finger to be unlocked, you can use it even when your finger isn't squeaky clean, and their security is a lot tighter.
When Can We Expect To See The OnePlus 13 Devices Launch?
If the release cycle of the OnePlus 12 series is anything to go by, the OnePlus 13 smartphones should launch around the turn of the year.
The OnePlus 12 series launched in China in December, but the global release for the phones wasn't until January. So I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar pattern for the release of the new OnePlus phones.
