If you were hoping that the next OnePlus flagship would stay reasonably priced, new leaks might disappoint you. With each passing year, OnePlus is moving away from its flagship-killer philosophy for its top-of-the-line model, and early reports suggest that the OnePlus 15‘s successor is getting even more expensive.
Flagship phones may be getting pricier across the board
According to a tipster on Weibo, next-gen flagship smartphones coming out of China are seeing a notable jump in pricing. The upcoming OnePlus 16 is among these models, and will reportedly start for around CNY 5,000 (~$725) for the base 12GB + 256GB configuration. To recall, the OnePlus 15 was priced at CNY 3,999 in China (~$580) for the same starting version.
If the leak proves accurate, that would represent a noticeable bump in starting prices for the new flagship phones.
What’s behind the price hike?
The rumored price hike isn’t just about branding. It might come down to the cost of components inside these devices. Rising production and hardware costs are expected to push prices upward. Another major factor could be the price of advanced chip fabrication. A single 2nm wafer from TSMC may cost around 10% to 20% higher than the current 3nm wafers. Memory components (like LPDDR5X RAM) are also becoming more expensive, which adds to manufacturing costs for flagship phones.
OnePlus 16 is bringing some big upgrades
While the pricing news may sting a little, OnePlus is apparently bringing some decent upgrades, such as:
These upgrades might make the higher price easier to justify for fans. Keep in mind that nothing about the OnePlus 16 has been officially confirmed yet, and leaks should always be taken with a grain of salt.