OnePlus launched the OnePlus 16, the successor to the OnePlus 15, in China this evening. OnePlus had been teasing it for weeks, and OnePlus China president Li Jie revealed most of the display and battery details in the run-up. Pre-orders opened on the night, and sales start on Tuesday 13th October.
It is a China-only launch for now. The phone runs ColorOS 17, OPPO’s software built on Android 17, which we went through in August. OnePlus phones sold elsewhere can get it too: in July, OnePlus said eligible OnePlus phones around the world could switch from OxygenOS to ColorOS 17. China-market phones do come without Google’s apps and services, though. OnePlus has not said whether, when or in what form it will sell the OnePlus 16 outside China, and it stopped launching new products in Europe and North America in July. OnePlus India is still operating, but there is no India date either. If it does go global, OnePlus would have to confirm whether the China specs carry over.
OnePlus 16 specs
| Spec | OnePlus 16 |
|---|---|
| Chip | Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 |
| RAM and storage | 12GB or 16GB RAM; 256GB, 512GB or 1TB |
| Display | 6.78-inch flat BOE X4 LTPO OLED, 1.5K (2772 x 1272) |
| Refresh rate | 1Hz to 165Hz across apps, up to 185Hz in supported games |
| Peak brightness | 2,000 nits global peak (HBM) |
| Manual maximum brightness | 1,000 nits |
| PWM dimming | 3,840Hz |
| Bezels | 1.15mm |
| Front glass | OPPO Crystal Shield Glass |
| Battery | 9,000mAh Glacier Battery (two 4,500mAh cells; rated 8,780mAh) |
| Battery chip | OPPO Glacier Battery Energy Concentration Chip |
| Wired charging | 100W SUPERVOOC, 1% to 100% in 52 minutes |
| Wireless charging | 50W (charger sold separately) |
| Wired reverse charging | 27W |
| Wireless reverse charging | Not listed |
| Bypass charging | Supported |
| Rear cameras | 200MP main, 50MP 3x periscope telephoto, 50MP ultra-wide |
| Front camera | 50MP |
| Water and dust | IP66, IP68, IP69 and IP69K |
| Weight | About 217g to 220g, depending on colour |
| Software | ColorOS 17 (Android 17) |
| Price | From CNY 5,999 (about USD 895 or KES 116,000) |
The panel is LTPO, which means it can change its refresh rate on the fly as the content on screen changes. A higher refresh rate redraws the picture more times a second, so scrolling and games look smoother, and it costs battery. OnePlus says it tuned the whole display chain to keep power draw close to that of a standard 120Hz screen. So if you play games on it, expect 185Hz only in titles that support it; everything else tops out at 165Hz.
A nit is the unit of screen brightness, and global peak is the brightness across the whole panel at once, reached in a high brightness mode that lifts the screen in strong light. PWM dimming means the OLED switches on and off thousands of times a second to lower its brightness, and a faster rate is harder for the eye to detect, which matters most to people who are sensitive to flicker. The bezels are the borders around the display. BOE is the Chinese display maker.
The Glacier Battery is two 4,500mAh cells wired together in series, and OnePlus counts the pair as the equivalent of 9,000mAh. The rated capacity, the minimum every unit has to reach, is 8,780mAh. The OPPO-developed chip stretches battery life from the same capacity and keeps games at full frame rate even when the battery is nearly flat, the company says. Separately, OnePlus says the battery keeps at least 80% of its capacity after five years, based on one full charge every 1.35 days. Bypass charging powers the phone directly from the charger and skips the battery, so a long game session on the cable does not keep cycling the battery and warming it up.
How much the OnePlus 16 costs
The OnePlus 16 starts at about USD 895 or KES 116,000 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB version, and the 16GB and 1TB version costs about USD 1,268 or KES 165,000. Every version is about USD 45 or KES 5,800 cheaper during the launch sale, which runs until 13th November. China’s national phone subsidy brings the starting model down to about USD 776 or KES 101,000, and regional subsidies cut the other three. Mars Masterpiece comes only with 512GB of storage, so if you want the cheapest version or the 1TB one, you’re choosing between Starlight and Dark Forest.
| Version | List price |
|---|---|
| 12GB + 256GB | CNY 5,999 (KES 116,000) |
| 12GB + 512GB | CNY 6,799 (KES 132,000) |
| 16GB + 512GB | CNY 7,499 (KES 145,000) |
| 16GB + 1TB | CNY 8,499 (KES 165,000) |
The starting price is a big jump from the OnePlus 15, which launched at about USD 597 or KES 78,000 for the same 12GB and 256GB version. The OnePlus 16 starts about USD 298 or KES 38,800 higher. Last month, when we covered the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip behind it, the three colours and the tipped specs, we said to expect a higher price because Qualcomm was charging more for its new chips and memory had got more expensive all year.
What changed from the OnePlus 15
| Spec | OnePlus 16 | OnePlus 15 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everyday refresh rate | Up to 165Hz across apps | Up to 120Hz, 165Hz in some apps | Higher across apps |
| Top refresh rate | 185Hz | 165Hz | +20Hz |
| Peak brightness (HBM) | 2,000 nits | 1,800 nits | +200 nits |
| Front glass | OPPO Crystal Shield Glass | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | Different glass |
| Battery | 9,000mAh | 7,300mAh | +1,700mAh, about 23% |
| Wired charging | 100W | 120W | -20W |
| Wired reverse charging | 27W | 5W | +22W |
| Wireless reverse charging | Not listed | 10W | Missing from the OnePlus 16 spec sheet |
| Starting price | CNY 5,999 | CNY 3,999 | +CNY 2,000 (about KES 38,800) |
The 6.78-inch LTPO 1.5K display, 50W wireless charging and bypass charging stay the same.
On paper the OnePlus 16 trades wired charging speed for capacity, and it starts about KES 38,800 higher than the OnePlus 15 did. The brightness, refresh-rate power draw and five-year battery claims are all OnePlus’s own so far, so independent tests will show whether 9,000mAh delivers the endurance the number suggests. If it does, the bigger battery is a better reason to look at this phone than the 185Hz headline.
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