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:

• 📱 OPPO Find X5 Pro apparently spotted in the wild with Hasselblad branding plus “powered by MariSilicon” (Android Authority).
• 👉 Here is a complete leaked specs table for the Galaxy Tab S8 series, including that monster 14.6-inch Tab S8 Ultra tablet. Imagine if it was a foldable? (Android Authority).
• 💧 Leak: Motorola Frontier could have Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus, 200MP camera (Android Authority).
• 💸 Surprise! Netflix just raised all pricing in the US and Canada by a buck or two a month. Also, a poll: do you plan to cancel Netflix after North American price increase? (Android Authority).
• 🎥 What is Nest Aware, and is it worth the cost? (Android Authority).
• 🥽 Apple’s new VR/AR headset risks being delayed until 2023, may retail for $2,000+ (Bloomberg).
• 🍎 Apple hits a bump in plans to redesign iPad Pro with MagSafe: glass vs aluminum design choices (9to5Mac).
• 🍏 Apple will let dating apps offer third-party payment options in the Netherlands. A press release managed to make credit cards sound very scary! (The Verge).
• 🔓 The UK government is reportedly preparing a PR blitz against end-to-end encryption (Engadget).
• 🔫 Destructive hacks against Ukraine echo its last Cyberwar (Wired).
• 🚀 We don’t know why, but being in space causes us to destroy our blood: red blood cells just gone (Ars Technica).
• 🌋 The enormous volcano in Tonga caused a giant shockwave heard all the way to New Zealand, and picked up by weather stations across the earth — not to mention the tsunami warnings, and ash cloud almost the size of France. These two gifs tell us a lot: infrared footage and the explosion rippling across the globe (Reddit).
• 🕵️‍♀️ “What should everyone experience in their lifetime?” (r/askreddit).

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.

This is a good one:

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

Cheers,

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor