This is the OnePlus 16 and it has a Pixel HiLight-like feature

Another day, another piece of the OnePlus 16 puzzle. After months of leaks and rumors, OnePlus has finally shared some official details about its upcoming flagship and opened pre-bookings in China.

In a new Weibo post, OnePlus shared images of the OnePlus 16 in three colors: Tomorrow’s Starlight, The Dark Forest, and A Martian Masterpiece. The phone will feature a design similar to the OnePlus 15, with a square camera module housing a triple-camera setup. It will also carry forward its predecessor’s button layout, including the placement of the power and volume buttons and the Plus key.

The company has also opened pre-bookings for the phone in China. Although it hasn’t revealed the price, the pre-booking page does reveal some noteworthy details. The OnePlus 16 will not be available in an 8GB RAM variant, contrary to a previous leak. Instead, it will come with 12GB or 16GB of RAM, paired with 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage.

It will also feature a new “Interstellar Lighting Effect” on the back. This sounds similar to the Glyph Matrix we’ve seen on Nothing phones or the HiLight LED on the Pixel 11 Pro. According to a machine-translated landing page for the OnePlus 16, the Interstellar Lighting Effect will light up to notify users of incoming calls, texts, game highlights, and more. It will be available only on the “Tomorrow’s Starlight” color variant. It’s unclear what “game highlights” means here, but it could refer to the lights changing based on what’s happening in-game.

Speaking of this new lighting effect, the silver OnePlus 16 has several areas on its rear panel that seem capable of lighting up. A star icon sits in the top-right corner, along with text that reads “Area 16” and two coordinates. A quick Google search indicates these are galactic coordinates, though I’m not sure which celestial body they point toward.

The phone is expected to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 processor, a 200MP primary camera, a 50MP ultrawide camera, and a 50MP periscope telephoto lens. It could also feature a custom-designed display with narrow bezels and a 165Hz refresh rate that can reach 185Hz while gaming.

The OnePlus 16 will not be available in the US or Europe, but with each passing day, it looks more like a device worth importing if it launches at the right price.