OnePlus Dimensity 1200 phone reportedly in the prototyping stage

OnePlus has been trying to diversify its products recently and not just by launching new devices like its first-ever smartwatch. Last year, it also introduced a new Nord series that seems poised to flood the budget and mid-range smartphone markets in the US and elsewhere. All throughout, however, OnePlus has solidly been a Qualcomm smartphone house as far as the processors that it uses go. It might be planning to diversify that as well as leaks about a OnePlus phone powered by MediaTek's Dimensity 5G chipset continue to arrive.

Although it didn't really disappear from the market, MediaTek's mobile chips seemed to have taken a backseat during Qualcomm's aggressive 5G push. MediaTek, however, pushed back hard with its myriad Dimensity 5G processors to the point that it even overtook Qualcomm as the world's biggest mobile chip company last year and early this year. Getting OnePlus to use its chips isn't exactly going to be fatal to Qualcomm but it definitely speaks volumes in MediaTek's favor.

It was first believed that OnePlus' first MediaTek devices would be its next Nord phones, considering it's exactly the market where the chipmaker leads. The OnePlus Nord CE 5G, however, is now believed to run on a Snapdragon 750G instead and the OnePlus Nord N200 5G might also be too far below the price tiers for this latest rumored Dimensity-powered OnePlus phone.

According to Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station on Weibo, an engineering prototype for a OnePlus with a Dimensity 1200 "looks good". The phone is being compared with the OnePlus 9 Pro in terms of design and a 50MP Sony IMX766 is reportedly also present. It is also running OxygenOS which gives hope it might be headed for international markets.

The Dimensity 1200 is MediaTek's flagship 5G chip and is probably a better fit for a OnePlus flagship phone. That said, OnePlus also promised a successor to the OnePlus Nord N10 and that could still be the phone that will bear MediaTek's chip.