OnePlus 9 RT: What to expect from OnePlus’ next flagship smartphone of the year – Times of India

As we approach the festive season, we are heading towards the time when OnePlus launches its ’T’ series phone. Usually around October, OnePlus launches a ’T’ series handset ahead of the festive sales. Last year too, OnePlus launched OnePlus 8T in October.
A new report by Android Central has claimed that OnePlus is planning to launch one ’T’ series handset — OnePlus 9 RT — later this year in “select markets” including India. This will be the only phone in the numbered flagship series, as per the report and come as an upgrade to OnePlus 9R.
What to expect from OnePlus 9 RT?
The report claims that the OnePlus 9 RT may see improvements in the camera department as it may come with a 50MP Sony IMX766 — same as the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus Nord 2 — as its primary sensor.
Also, it is expected to be the company’s first handset to run on OxygenOS 12 based on Android 12 out of the box.
Why no OnePlus 9T or OnePlus 9T Pro are expected?
The report clearly claims that we may see only one ’T’ series handset from OnePlus this year, despite seeing three models — OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Pro and OnePlus 9R.
This is because, last year too, OnePlus had launched the ’T’ variant of only one handset, ie, the OnePlus 8T and did not launch the OnePlus 8T Pro.
At that time, Pete Lau, OnePlus CEO, provided a brief explanation about this and said, “Users who like Pro-level products can continue to choose the OnePlus 8 Pro, the annual machine king. Our plan for it is itself defined in a direction where there is no room for upgrade”.
The same logic could totally apply to OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro models too.
How OnePlus is ‘changing’
In the last year or so, OnePlus has been undergoing a lot of changes. First, the company launched an affordable lineup with mid-range processors thereby deviating from the flagship-only strategy. Then, last month it announced a deeper integration with sister company Oppo. Most recently, its latest handset — OnePlus Nord 2 5G — features a MediaTek processor, which is a first for the brand as it has stuck to Qualcomm processors before that.