The OnePlus 9RT has joined the game – despite the name, this feels like a bigger than usual upgrade over the 9R. And it is quite different from the vanilla OnePlus 9 too. This is a brand new device and it has gaming on its mind. The OnePlus 9R was a revamped 8T with the Snapdragon 870 chipset (replacing the 865), other than that it had the same screen, same camera, same battery. As we already alluded, the 9RT is different across the board save for the battery.
It starts with the 6.62” display, slightly
larger than the non-Pro phones (both the 9 and 9R have 6.55” displays). This
Samsung E4 AMOLED display has 1,080 x 2,400 px resolution (20:9). It supports
HDR10+ and features sRGB and P3 color modes. The display offers a high refresh
rate, 120 Hz, plus 600 Hz touch sampling rate for instant reactions. Other
game-related features include “4D” haptic feedback and three Wi-Fi antennas
positioned around the phone for uninterrupted reception.
Next up is the chipset – a Snapdragon 888,
of course. It can be configured with 8 or 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM (quad-channel),
along with 128 or 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage (dual channel). Note that the 12 GB
of RAM is available only with 256 GB storage. The 9RT may be using the same
chipset as the vanilla OnePlus 9, however its “Space Cooling” has a heat sink
that is 59% larger. This increases the heat dissipation by 20%. The vanilla
model was already pretty good at sustained performance, but this one should
perform even better.
Moving on to the camera, it is a unique setup.
The 9R inherited its camera from the 8T, but the 9RT mixes and matches
elements. Starting with the 50 MP main camera, which uses the same Sony IMX766
sensor as the 9 and 9 Pro (though there it was in the ultra wide module). This
1/1.56” sensor has modern goodies like DOL-HDR. Its 1.0 µm pixels are placed
behind a decently bright f/1.8 aperture and can be binned 4 into 1, Optical
Image Stabilization (OIS) will also help out in the dark. Strangely, video
recording is capped at 4K 60 fps.
The 123° ultra wide angle camera has a
more modest 16 MP sensor and an f/2.2 lens. This one was lifted straight from
the 9R. There’s also a 2 MP macro camera here. Turning to the front, the selfie
camera has a 16 MP IMX471 sensor (1.0 µm, f/2.4) and it can record 1080p 30 fps
videos (with electronic stabilization). Off to the battery next. It is still a
4,500 mAh two-cell battery with 65W fast charging support, specifically Warp
Charge 65T. However, the USB-C port is wired only for USB 2.0 data transfer.
This mostly matters if you are connecting external devices like a monitor, for
example.
That’s almost everything. The phone has a
fingerprint reader built into the display. Also, stereo speakers with Dolby
Atmos support. It’s a 5G handset with two SIM cards, it also supports Wi-Fi 6
(ax, 2x2 MIMO), Bluetooth 5.2 (including LDAC and AAC codecs) and NFC. The
OnePlus 9RT is set to go on pre-order in China later today, sales and shipping
will kick off on the 19th (Tuesday). The prices start at CNY 3,300
(US$ 510/€ 445/₹ 38,500). For international readers, this is more than the launch
price of the vanilla OnePlus 9 (CNY 3,800 for an 8/128 GB phone), though that
has fallen since then. The vanilla model was € 700 in Europe.
You can grab the phone in Black, Silver
and Blue. Well, if you are in China, OnePlus did not reveal if and when the 9RT
will be available elsewhere. Also, this version runs ColorOS 11 (based on
Android 11), as do the other 9-series models in China.
