OnePlus Announces 9 Series Smartphones, OnePlus Watch

Today, OnePlus announced the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro smartphones and the firm’s first ever smartwatch, the OnePlus Watch.

“The OnePlus 9 Series represents a key milestone for OnePlus flagship smartphones,” OnePlus founder and CEO Pete Lau says. “Co-developed with Hasselblad, the new Hasselblad Camera for Mobile will give users the ability to capture their own iconic moments with more accurate colors and premium image quality. Together with the new OnePlus Watch, our latest flagship smartphone series offers a burdenless user experience with even the smallest detail tailored to challenge the smartphone industry and empower our Community through premium technology.”

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The OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro both sport a high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor and 8 or 12 GB of RAM and 128 or 256 GB of internal storage, depending on the configuration. Each supports Warp Charge 65T wired charging, which can charge the phones from 1 percent to 100 percent in just 29 minutes using the bundled charger. Each also supports Warp Charge 50 wireless charging, which can charge the phones from 1 percent to 100 percent in just 43 minutes.

The OnePlus 9 starts at $829 and comes in Astral Black, Winter Mist, and Stellar Black color choices (though that third color is not available in North America). It provides a 6.55-inch 2400 x 1080 120 Hz Fluid Display, which supports 60 120 Hz refresh rates. It has a three-lens camera system with a 48 MP main lens, a 50 MP ultra-wide lens, and a dedicated monochrome lens that works with the main lens for what OnePlus says are “detailed and layered black and white photos.” There is a second microphone near the camera lenses for a feature called audio zoom.

The OnePlus 9 Pro starts at $969 and comes in Morning Mist and Pine Green color choices. It provides a new 6.7-inch 1440 x 3216 Fluid Display 2.0, which is based on a new generation of LTPO material and optimized to automatically switch between 1 and 120 Hz depending on the content being viewed. It has a four-lens camera system with the same main, ultra-wide, and monochrome lenses found on the OnePlus 9, plus an 8 MP telephoto lens with optical image stabilization (OIS) and 30X digital zoom. There are a laser focus and two additional microphones on the rear for audio zoom, and the camera system can shoot 4K video at 120 fps.

In both cases, OnePlus worked with Hasselblad to optimize the color performance of the camera systems, dramatically lower the distortion of ultra-wide shots, and create a new Pro shooting mode that foregoes computational photography and provides more authentic colors for post-editing. There’s also a new Auto mode that provides a color style based on Hasselblad, which OnePlus says is a more natural and rich color look.

Additionally, OnePlus announced the OnePlus Watch, the company’s first wearable. The OnePlus Watch features a round 46 mm case, 2.5D curved glass on the front, and deep integration with your smartphone’s notifications, phone, music playback, and photo functionality. It comes with 4 GB of storage—2 of which are available for use—and is compatible with Bluetooth earbuds. It can also be used as a remote control for the OnePlus-TV.

The OnePlus Watch sports IP68 water and dust resistance, GPS, blood oxygen saturation monitoring, stress detection, breathing training, rapid heart rate alerts, and sedentary reminders, and it supports over 110 different types of workouts. There’s a new OnePlus Health app for Android as well.

OnePlus Watch is available in two models, Classic, which costs $159 and uses a stainless-steel case, and Cobalt Limited Edition, which utilizes a unique cobalt alloy case and sapphire glass for enhanced brightness and exceptional scratch resistance. (Pricing is unclear at this time.) Each provides up to two weeks of battery life with continuous use and each supports fast charging: A full day of power in just 5 minutes or a week of life in just 20 minutes.

The OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro will be available for preorder on March 26, and the handsets will be available for sale starting April 2. A new Warp Charge 50 wireless charger will also be available on April 2. And the OnePlus Watch will be available on April 14.

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Conversation 8 comments

  • jrzoomer

    Premium Member
    23 March, 2021 - 11:23 am

    <p>Paul are you interested in testing one of these?</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      24 March, 2021 - 9:29 am

      I will be doing so, yes.

  • billalm

    23 March, 2021 - 12:06 pm

    <p>Small correction – the OnePlus 9 (non-pro model) supports 15 watt wireless charging</p>

  • StevenLayton

    23 March, 2021 - 1:57 pm

    <p>They bundled a charger with the phone?? Thats a game changer :)</p>

  • qaelith2112

    23 March, 2021 - 3:57 pm

    <p>The watch is interesting as it looks somewhat thin and lightweight and reasonably attractive along with apparently a decent set of sensors and features for a low price. The possible turn-off would be that it doesn't appear to be a part of any established ecosystem so those Wear apps I'm currently relying on would not likely be there. I use Google Pay on my Wear OS watch for tap-to-pay and I have a couple of other apps such as my workout app (Jefit) which I can log my strength training sets as I go via my watch. I mean, it's not a lot of apps, but those couple that I use are pretty handy. I also use Google Fit to track my cardio but that almost certainly will have something that can report in just fine given the assortment of fitness stuff I'm seeing listed. I'd say the same about the strength training too, but I'm pretty well settled on Jefit because I've gone through a lot of trouble to put together a specific workout routine and it has a lot of extras with that which just any old exercise software isn't necessarily suitable as a replacement. Otherwise I really don't use a lot of apps that can't be matched with the watch's own functionality. </p><p><br></p><p>There are things I'd LIKE To be able to do with my current watch that I can't, because developers just aren't rolling stuff out for Wear OS as prolifically as I'd like. For example, the grocery list app I use would be nice to access on my watch to check things off as I go rather than keeping my phone out, but it doesn't do that. The grocery list apps that do have Wear OS support on the other hand do NOT integrate with Google Assistant so I can't say to my Nest Hub, "Hey Google, add milk to my shopping list" and have it show up. It's one thing or the other but not both. The watch ecosystem is pathetically weak but I do have those couple of things.</p>

  • brettscoast

    Premium Member
    23 March, 2021 - 7:32 pm

    <p>The OnePlus picture has suddenly become a lot clearer</p>

  • angusmatheson

    23 March, 2021 - 11:07 pm

    <p>I think the really interesting story is that the One+ watch doesn’t use google android wearOS. Samsung has also abandoned it. Froms Ars technica:</p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(17, 16, 16); color: rgb(190, 190, 190);">We couldn't get any answers about the lineage of the operating system; OnePlus just calls it "OnePlus Watch OS" and says it's a real-time OS. OnePlus says the watch has a ton of workout modes, local music playback over Bluetooth, the ability to take phone calls over the built-in microphone and speaker, and sleep and heart rate tracking.</span></p><p><br></p><p>What is the future of WearOS? And what is the future if wearables in android? It seems like smart watches have become notification and fitness trackers. There is so much more that a computer attached to your body could be. They should be getting more sophisticated not dumber.</p>

  • retcable

    Premium Member
    24 March, 2021 - 4:38 am

    <p>I have used several OnePlus phones, the most recent being the McLaren edition, which was a great phone until the updates stopped coming. I am one of those weirdo people who take security and privacy seriously and appreciate having my phone receive timely updates, which the McLaren no longer does. But that's not the story here.</p><p><br></p><p>Like a lot of "flagship" phones nowadays, according to early reports, these new phones suffer from the most annoying problem there is with smartphones, that being that no manufacturer builds in enough battery capacity to make these phones last even one single day with all their top-end specs enabled. The specs that they blared long and hard about yesterday in the launch presentation and that they will talk about in advertisements. Consumers like the high refresh-rate screens, the 5G, the high-speed processors, etc, but the manufacturers simply refuse to equip the devices with a battery that will allow users to actually use those features.</p><p><br></p><p>I will be perfectly happy to accept a little thicker phone that contains enough battery to run this or any other phone with the high refresh-rate and high-resolution screen turned up. And I believe a lot of other people would as well. Am I wrong? Is there simply no demand for larger battery capacity? If there isn't, then why do the phone makers keep building these devices with specs and capabilities that cannot be used by customers? What's the point? Just having the specs? What is the use in that if you can't use those specs?</p>

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