Daily Authority: ???? OnePlus going back to its roots?

???? Good morning! It’s MLK day, so a shorter update! There’s an appropriate Google Doodle honoring the civil rights pioneer.

OnePlus what now?

There’s an intriguing rumor that OnePlus might be working on a new device: something more affordable but high performance. So says Digital Chat Station on Weibo, well-known as a tipster in native Mandarin.

What’s going on:

• The translated message doesn’t exactly come through well but the idea is that OnePlus might be going back to its roots with a new affordable performance device, like the OnePlus range of old.
• The tip here suggests a price ranging from 2,000 to 3,000 yuan ($300 to $475 or so), which probably would mean about $500 in USD terms if it came to the US, Europe, India, and so on.
• Obviously, the focus on performance, gaming, flagship processor, and high-quality screen sounds enticing. It’s possible then that the camera would be only okay, and it could forgo costly additions like IP-rating, wireless charging, and so on.
• It’s not 100% clear, but that could mean a new OnePlus series like the Nord, but more… gamer? OnePlus Legendary or OnePlus PowerForce 1. Or something.
• And, using the Oppo/OnePlus/Realme combined resources from the MariSilicon X custom image processor.

Otherwise:

• The Iqoo mention is cheeky.
• Iqoo might not exactly be a well-known brand but it’s a sub-brand of Vivo, now operating by itself, much like Oppo/Realme and Xiaomi/Redmi and Poco/Xiaomi. One of my colleagues here wrote up praise of Iqoo base level storage starting at 256GB.
• That was because the Iqoo 9 series came with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, 6.78-inch 120Hz AMOLED, 120W charging, all for around ~$630.
• I have no doubt in my mind that a OnePlus high-end/high-value phone would be well received by enthusiasts, much as the OnePlus 10 Pro hasn’t been overly well-received for just being a high-end flagship that fits poorly into the ecosystem.
• Enthusiasts are notoriously fickle, though, so exact details are going to matter here.

Roundup:

Monday Meme

I’ve been loving the “Kramer, what’s going on in there?” meme, and some of the jokes are better than the original sketch.

And why not go for a little green for the Matrix?

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor