The next OnePlus phone will have the most powerful mid-range chip in 2024

OnePlus has confirmed that the Ace 3V is coming to China, and we’re expecting this device to debut in global markets as the Nord 4 or Nord 5. Now, the company has revealed that the mid-range phone will be powered by an unannounced Snapdragon processor.

OnePlus confirmed on Weibo that the Ace 3V will be the first handset to use the yet-to-be-revealed Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 chipset. The company noted that this processor has the same architecture as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 flagship SoC, including the Cortex-X4 big core. It also noted that this chip as the same TSMC 4nm manufacturing process, the same memory capabilities, and the same connectivity features.

In fact, OnePlus China president Li Jie Louis went so far as to call the new mid-range processor a “little 8 Gen 3.”

What else should we expect from Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3?

We do wonder about the rest of the processor, though. After all, last year’s Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 2 had the same CPU layout and manufacturing process as the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 but lagged behind even the 8 Gen 1 chips when it came to the GPU and camera capabilities. So we’re guessing that the new Snapdragon 7 chip might have a less capable GPU and more modest camera support (e.g. 4K/60fps instead of 8K recording).

Tipster Yogesh Brar has also chimed in with apparent Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 specs. Brar asserts that the chip will have one Cortex-X4 core clocked at 2.8GHz, four Cortex-A720 cores at 2.6GHz, and three Cortex-A520 cores running at 1.9GHz. That means the same CPU layout as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 but with a lower clock speed. The leaker also claims that this SoC will offer on-device generative AI capabilities and that phones with this chipset will debut in global markets (including India) in Q2.

This isn’t the only new Qualcomm chipset in the works, as the flagship-tier Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 has also leaked in recent days. This SoC is expected to fit in between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Either way, OnePlus has confirmed that the Ace 3V will be launching in China next week. So we hope this device comes to global markets at an affordable price, as a Nord 4 or Nord 5 with a beefy processor could be a great purchase for budget-conscious performance enthusiasts or avid gamers.