OnePlus 9 Pro could get a huge wireless charging upgrade — what you need to know

The first renders of the OnePlus 9 Pro
(Image credit: OnLeaks)

OnePlus is very late to the wireless charging game, having only released a single wireless charging phone (the OnePlus 8 Pro) in its entire history. The good news is that wireless charging is making a comeback on the OnePlus 9, and on more than one device.

According to leaker Max Jambor, both the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro will come packing wireless charging. But we still don’t know all of the details. 

According to Jambor the OnePlus 9 Pro will feature 45W wireless charging, which is a significant boost from the 30W speeds offered by the OnePlus 8 Pro. It’ll also offer reverse wireless charging, But as is usually the case, those speeds will be much slower; how much slower isn’t clear.

The OnePlus 9 is also set to get wireless charging, but Jambor doesn’t have any more details on specs or extra features. The same 45W wireless charging as the Pro may seem like an obvious choice, but past rumors have suggested it will offer the slower 30W speeds instead.

While it might seem more prudent to include 45W on both phones, having slower speeds on the standard OnePlus 9 would keep wireless charging fans happy, while also offering an extra incentive to buy the Pro model.

OnePlus has a mixed history with wireless charging, having stubbornly refused to include the feature even as the rest of the competition fully embraced it; see the iPhone 12, Google Pixel 5, and Samsung Galaxy S20 FE as examples. OnePlus finally relented last year with the 8 Pro, but wireless charging was suspiciously absent when the OnePlus 8T launched later in the year.

As such, it wouldn’t be unexpected if OnePlus staggered the wireless charging speeds on offer in the OnePlus 9 range. Especially since there are also rumors the company has a third phone, the OnePlus 9 Lite, launching at the same time. Since it’s meant to be cheaper, it may well skip wireless charging altogether, in order to keep the price down.

The OnePlus 9 is currently expected to launch in mid-March, and based on a leaked prototype we should expect something that looks similar to the OnePlus 8T. That includes a triple-lens camera system, which includes 48MP main and ultra-wide lenses, a front-facing hole-punch camera, a 6.5-inch display. The OnePlus 9 Pro is supposed to come with a quad rear camera array and a 6.7-inch display.

Both phones are also expected to come with a 120Hz display, Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 888 chipset, and all the usual tweaks and optimizations from OnePlus’s OxygenOS. We can also expect to see faster wired charging as well, at the very least on par with the 65W speeds on the OnePlus 8T.

We’ll bring you more on both phones as we hear it. But in the meantime, check out our best phones list if you want a new smartphone right now. 

Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.