OnePlus 16 Brings a New Gaming Assistant, 185Hz Display and a 9,000mAh Battery

OnePlus has revealed new details about the OnePlus 16 ahead of its launch on October 12 at 7 PM Beijing time. The company has focused on gaming, with a new game assistant, a high-refresh-rate display and a larger battery among the main features.

The phone is also expected to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip. While OnePlus has confirmed some of its features, other specifications and the reported price still need official confirmation.

The new game assistant includes improved shooting visuals, noise reduction for voice chat, lighting effects and a dedicated in-game camera. OnePlus has yet to explain exactly how the camera feature works.

The phone will also use the Fengchi gaming core and the company's G3 network chip. OnePlus says the Fengchi core works at a low level within the chip, while a redesigned antenna should help maintain a stable connection in areas with interference.

These features are aimed at gamers, but their actual benefits will depend on how well they work in supported games and real-world network conditions.

The OnePlus 16 will feature a flat 6.78-inch fourth-generation Oriental display developed with BOE. It uses new X4 display material and offers 1.5K resolution.

The panel can reach 185Hz in supported games, while the system can run at up to 165Hz during regular use. OnePlus also says the bezels measure just 1.15mm on all four sides.

The rear camera setup reportedly includes a 200MP main camera, a 50MP ultrawide camera and a 50MP periscope telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. The front camera is listed at 50MP. Other features include an ultrasonic fingerprint reader and IP66, IP68, IP69 and IP69K ratings.

The OnePlus 16 is listed with a 9,000mAh battery, 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. That's about 23% more capacity than the 7,300mAh battery in the OnePlus 15.

The larger battery should give the phone more room to handle demanding games and its high-refresh-rate display. Actual battery life will still depend on power use, though, so capacity alone doesn't tell us how long it will last.

OnePlus also claims improved navigation support, with three GPS frequency bands and four BeiDou bands.

OnePlus has not announced official pricing. A leak suggests that the base model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage could cost 4,999 yuan, while a 12GB RAM version with the same storage may cost 5,499 yuan.

For comparison, the OnePlus 15 started at 3,999 yuan with 12GB of RAM. If the leak is accurate, the new model could cost more while offering less memory in its base configuration. However, the final prices and configurations still need confirmation.

OnePlus has also said it will not launch new products in Europe and North America. That means an official release of the OnePlus 16 in those markets is not currently expected.