The OnePlus 16 is the company’s most interesting phone in years
OnePlus has launched the OnePlus 16 in China, featuring high-end specifications like the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and a 9,000mAh battery. The device marks a shift for the company, which has exited the US and European markets to focus on other regions.
Why it matters
The release highlights the evolving strategy of Chinese smartphone manufacturers as they pivot away from Western markets to focus on domestic and emerging consumer bases.
Today the OnePlus 16 launched in China, the company’s first flagship phone since quitting both the US and European markets this summer. As luck would have it, it also looks like the company’s best phone in some time.
Like most OnePlus phones, the 16 is positioned around performance, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset, and up to 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM. That’s backed up by an enormous 9,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, one of the biggest seen in any Android flagship yet. 100W wired and 50W wireless charging complete the power setup.
On the display front, the phone jumps to a 185Hz OLED panel for the first time. That’ll not only be used for 185fps gaming in compatible titles, but can also run at up to 165Hz throughout the system UI — a first for high refresh rate panels like this.
[Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/004dYw4Bly1ihzgp4hz6fj66dc48whe202.jpg?quality=90&strip=all]
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