OnePlus 8T might be going back to flat

For some phone makers, a curved screen is a sign of luxury and premium design, reserved only for high-end flagships. After all, premium phones have barely visible bezels, and pushing those edges down is one way of pushing them out of sight. So when OnePlus gave both the OnePlus 8 Pro and OnePlus 8 such curved displays, it sent a subtle message that OnePlus is finally going all out on both phones. That may have been just a one-time thing, though, if this latest firmware teardown is any indicator.

The latest OxygenOS 11 Beta just rolled out with some rather disconcerting changes for some OnePlus fans, at least as far as the UI goes. There are, fortunately, a few things more interesting things hidden inside. Even better, someone did do the hard work of digging those treasures out, pointing to some interesting tidbits about OnePlus' next smartphone.

The Oxygen Updater Blog discovered an image asset in the Settings app for a OnePlus phone that has never been seen before, one that has a flat screen and a small punch-hole cutout in the corner. It couldn't be the OnePlus 7T, which did have a flat screen but a waterdrop notch, nor could it be the OnePlus 8 that has a curved screen. The OnePlus Nord's flat screen has a double punch-hole so unless this is just some random, generic placeholder graphic, this could very well be our first look at the OnePlus 8T.

Another teardown, this time of the Camera app, also reveals another thing we've never seen before on a OnePlus phone: 8K recording. Given rumors of the OnePlus 8T's 64MP camera, it might be something reserved for this model as well.

Other than that, though, there isn't much known about the next OnePlus phones but it's not exactly that hard to predict the direction it will go. The customary Fall launch for a T series phone is coming close and the OnePlus 8T, especially the OnePlus 8T Pro, will be sporting the top specs for this half of the year.