OnePlus 9 prototype leak reveals design — and it just sold for $6,000

OnePlus 9 leak
(Image credit: PhoneArena)

A OnePlus 9 prototype has apparently sold on eBay for $6,000, and the listing has provided a few new glimpses at the upcoming smartphone.

The prototype was originally listed on the auction site for $3,000, the “owner” being the source of a major photo and screenshot leak to PhoneArena, but was later relisted with personally identifiable information removed.

The main bounty from the newer but since-deleted listing is a handful of photos that weren’t part of the original PhoneArena leak, including a couple with specs visible on its screen instead of listed in a screenshot, which would be easier to fake.

OnePlus 9 leak

(Image credit: PhoneArena)

These images corroborate a number of rumored details, including the OnePlus 9 running OxygenOS on top of Android 11 and featuring 8GB of memory combined with 128GB of storage. The eBay listing also confirms that the phone will use Qualcomm’s top-end Snapdragon 888 chip.

This is all on top of previously leaked OnePlus 9 specs, such as a larger 4,500 mAh battery and a triple camera array comprised of a 50MP main lens, 20MP wide-angle lens and a 12MP telephoto sensor.

OnePlus 9 leak

(Image credit: PhoneArena)

The prototype also appears to connect to 5G, so the OnePlus 9 should include 5G as standard like the OnePlus 8 did. This would also make for a reason to buy the flagship model and not the also-rumored OnePlus 9 Lite, a cheaper variant with the slower Snapdragon 865 processor.

Obviously, being a prototype, the design of the leaked OnePlus 9 is subject to change, though that hasn’t stopped someone from blowing $6,000 to get it early. Not that this sale is likely to go off without a hitch, though; OnePlus won’t be at all pleased that its prototype has ended up on eBay, and since the phone has what appears to be a serial number clearly visible in the photographs, it probably won’t be too long until the seller is tracked down.

James Archer

James is currently Hardware Editor at Rock Paper Shotgun, but before that was Audio Editor at Tom’s Guide, where he covered headphones, speakers, soundbars and anything else that intentionally makes noise. A PC enthusiast, he also wrote computing and gaming news for TG, usually relating to how hard it is to find graphics card stock.