Android smartphone and tablet maker OnePlus could be the latest mobile company to fully embrace dedicated handheld gaming console hardware, judging by a purported leak of the company’s plans.
An image claiming to be of a OnePlus gaming handheld has appeared on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, complete with potential details of the key specs.
The image shared by Digital Chat Station on Weibo (a source familiar to Stuff with a decent track record), suggests the device would be a complete handheld, rather than a smartphone in a cradle. It would have a boxy design, including girthy grips, top buttons, and a pair of cameras on the rear. We can also see a speaker grille and USB-C slot, as well as volume buttons and a headphone port within the render.
The render does look a little sketchy, to be honest, especially those purple handgrips that don’t really follow the company’s existing design language. Plus, OnePlus isn’t exactly shy about previewing its forthcoming products and, often, teases launches like this well before they get into the leakosphere.
According to a different leaker who posts under the name Bald Panda, the handheld will have an it’ll have an 8-inch display, and run on a MediaTek Dimensity system-on-a-chip. According to the well-known leaker Ice Universe that chip could be the “Windspeed Edition” of the Dimensity 9500. That’s the same chip OnePlus’ stablemate the Oppo Find X9 Pro used to great effect. This, as Android Authority points out, could mean we’re in for an Android device that’s also capable of making calls and doing everything else a smartphone can. Hence the pair of cameras.
OnePlus is no stranger to high-end Android gaming on its existing smartphones. The OnePlus 15 for example offers a 165Hz refresh rate and even sacrifices display resolution (down to 2772 x 1272) to prioritise a great experience for gamers. That behemoth of a 7300mAh battery doesn’t hurt either.
Our OnePlus 15 reviewer wrote: “Running its RAM at previously unheard of speeds for a phone certainly helps, as does the over-engineered vapour chamber cooling system. It does a great job of keeping heat under control, with a novel aerogel material stopping it from transferring to the screen, even while gaming. PUBG Mobile can sustain 120fps for an hour of play. Other titles feel gloriously smooth at 165Hz, with all the graphics turned up.”
