OnePlus 9 leak reveals how it blows away Samsung Galaxy S21

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The upcoming OnePlus 9 will have something the Samsung Galaxy S21 doesn’t

OnePlus fast charging
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Something was missing from the recent launches of both the Apple iPhone 12 and Samsung Galaxy S21 phones — chargers to help you juice up your new phones. It’s a decision that OnePlus doesn’t sound like it’s following the upcoming OnePlus 9 release.

In advance of the phone’s arrival later this month, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau confirmed that the new phone will ship with a charger in the box. Lau posted in his comment in the OnePlus forums, responding to a question from a user.

"Don't worry about it," Lau told a customer concerned about the lack of chargers with other recent flagship releases.. "We have the charger inside the box." 

Lau didn't go into further detail about what kind of charger. Since it’s widely assumed the OnePlus 9 would match the OnePlus 8T’s support for 65W charging, we’d guess that the charger in question also supports that fast charging speed.

This behavior and messaging is a stark departure from what we've seen from Apple and Samsung recently. Both companies have argued that leaving a charger out of the box reduces environmental waste; it also cuts costs for phone makers while assuming that consumers either have enough old chargers on hand or are willing to pay up for a new accessory.

Still, it shouldn’t be surprising that OnePlus is going its own way here, given the company’s proprietary charging technology. Since there aren’t many chargers on the market that can live up to OnePlus’ 65W speeds, the company seems like it’s ensuring the feature will be available to users with a charger supplied by the phone maker.

It’s a matter of weeks now before we see the OnePlus 9, which could include multiple phones. (A pro version and lite version are expected to accompany the standard model.) OnePlus has just set a March 23 date for the phone’s launch, while also announcing a new Hasselblad partnership. Under this collaboration, the OnePlus 9 is poised to offer a camera array that can take on even the best Android phones when the new line launches. 

There’s still much we don’t know about when it comes to the new OnePlus flagship, but all will be revealed by the end of the month.

Brittany Vincent
Brittany Vincent

Brittany Vincent has been covering video games and tech for over 13 years for publications including Tom's Guide, MTV, Rolling Stone, CNN, Popular Science, Playboy, IGN, GamesRadar, Polygon, Kotaku, Maxim, and more. She's also appeared as a panelist at video game conventions like PAX East and PAX West and has coordinated social media for companies like CNET. When she's not writing or gaming, she's looking for the next great visual novel in the vein of Saya no Uta. You can follow her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake.