OnePlus 9 specs revealed in full — and it’s bad news

OnePlus 8T review
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

We’re expecting the OnePlus 9 handsets to arrive next month, and at this rate there will be very few surprises left. The latest leak comes from TechDroider, which has posted four screenshots revealing the internal specs of the OnePlus 9. 

There’s probably more information in the tweet than most people need or want, including details like the current battery temperature, so we’ve distilled the data into a list of the most useful details below.

OnePlus 9 Specs

  •  6.55-inch, 2400 x 1080 120Hz display 
  •  Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 (“Lahaina”) 
  •  8GB RAM 
  •  128GB Storage 
  •  12MP rear camera 
  •  4MP front camera 
  •  4,500mAh battery 
  • 65W charger
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At a glance, those camera specs may seem a little on the low side, especially given the OnePlus 8 and 8T both included 48MP and 16MP specs on the same cameras,  but our guess is that these are in fact the resolution of pictures after quad pixel binning. In other words, we imagine the cameras offer the same megapixel count as the previous generation: 12 x 4 coming to 48MP and 4 x 4 reaching 16MP. 

This does mean, however, that on paper there’s little difference in specs between the OnePlus 9 and last year’s OnePlus 8 — and even less from the OnePlus 8T, which shares the same 120Hz screen and battery capacity. All three phones adopt the same screen size, resolution, RAM and onboard storage.

The big difference, of course, is in the main SoC. While both of last year’s OnePlus 8 devices used the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, this year’s model is set to use the Snapdragon 888 chipset. 

Given that’s the same jump in processor that Samsung made between the Galaxy S20 and S21, we have a pretty good idea of what that will translate to in terms of performance. In our benchmarks. The 888 chip represented just under a 5% boost to multi-core performance, though in practical terms it could pump out high fps in 3D games with the best of them.

Still, with such a modest performance bump and precious little change in the core specs, it doesn’t seem like the OnePlus 9 will be a must-upgrade when it emerges next month. This could work out well for the Chinese company, though. A relatively safe upgrade to the basic handset could make buyers turn to the more expensive OnePlus 9 Pro with its 12GB RAM and rumored Hasselblad camera

Alan Martin

Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. Or, more likely, playing Spelunky for the millionth time.