OnePlus 9 Lite specs leak, likely to pack OnePlus 8T like hardware

OnePlus is widely tipped to launch new smartphones in March next year, and one of these phones is said to be an affordable lite variant device. Earlier, this was rumoured to be the OnePlus 9E, however, a new leak has suggested that the phone will come with a more conservative name, OnePlus 9 Lite.

The latest leak coming courtesy of Android Central also suggests that the phone will feature similar specifications to the OnePlus 8T. As such, under the hood, there will be Snapdragon 865 chip and outside a 90 or 120Hz AMOLED panel. The OnePlus 9 Lite is also said to support 65W fast charging.

It will be interesting to see if OnePlus actually ends up going with this chipset, as it would be the first for OnePlus to use an old SoC on a new phone. While it is true that the Snapdragon 865 is still a powerful chip, it would still represent OnePlus going back on its promise of "never settle". However, all these concerns could be allayed if OnePlus price the device right to ensure there's enough value in the phone for buyers. But this is again something we'd only get to know in the coming weeks and months as there is no information on the device's price or availability available via leaks at the moment.

Further, the device is also expected to share the same camera optics found in the OnePlus 8T. For the uninitiated, the OnePlus 8T brings offers a versatile usage experience while clicking photos as it comes with four cameras of which the primary is a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor. The lens has an aperture of F/1.7 and supports both OIS and EIS which works as advertised and helps the camera maintain a high level of stability while shooting images.

There's also an ultra-wide-angle lens which has a 123-degree field of view. Additionally, the OnePlus 8T gets two more lenses. The first of these is an improved 5-megapixel macro lens which again is a definite upgrade on the OnePlus 8, while the other appears to be the same 2-megapixel monochrome lens.

As mentioned above, there's no information about the pricing pr availability of the device yet, however, the device is expected to be launched alongside the OnePlus 9 series sometime in March 2021.