The new handset is an iterative update to the OnePlus 5, which launched back in June 2017 to widespread acclaim
The OnePlus 5T is the mid-season substitute to the company's flagship (and, as of late, only) smartphone. The T doesn't bring radical changes - on the contrary; it's a minor update to help the 5 stay in fashion and, as a side effect, why not spark up buzz right in time for holiday shopping.
These incremental, mid-cycle upgrades are becoming a pattern for the Chinese smartphone company, which last year debuted the OnePlus 3T six months after the OnePlus 3.
If the staggeringly short shelf life of the latest flagship OnePlus phone bothers fans of the brand, they aren’t showing it – with the OnePlus 5T already the company’s fastest-selling smartphone following its launch last month.OnePlus 5T is the second flagship phone OnePlus has launched this year. The new handset is an iterative update to the hugely impressive OnePlus 5 and brings an edge-to-edge AMOLED display, face recognition technology and new dual camera set-up
A lot has changed since the arrival of the OnePlus 5 back in June, namely the launch of a number of flagship handsets with expansive edge-to-edge displays, including the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, LG V30, and Apple iPhone X.
As a result, the chunky bezels that bookend the top and bottom of the OnePlus 5 have started to make the phone look older than its years.
Enter the OnePlus 5T.
To update its flagship phone to align with the latest trend, OnePlus has managed to squeeze a generous 6.01-inch AMOLED display into a physical footprint no bigger than the OnePlus 5, which had a 5.5-inch display.
However, to accommodate the almost edge-to-edge display, OnePlus has been forced to relocate the fingerprint scanner to the back of the phone.
Don’t worry though – it’s still as fast and accurate as before.
Elsewhere, there’s little to distinguish the OnePlus 5T from its predecessor.
Like the OnePlus 5, OnePlus appears to have dropped the industrial design that characterised its previous handsets, including the T-shaped antenna bands and square camera module that appeared on the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T.
Instead, the Chinese company has opted for a design that’s ludicrously similar to the iPhone 7 Plus. Make no mistake – it looks good, but then again, so did the iPhone 7 Plus.
It would have been nice to see the OnePlus design team flex their creative muscles and try something truly different and original, but hopefully that will be reserved for the OnePlus 6 next year.
Looks aside, the anodised aluminium device feels great in the hand, thanks to the subtle curve at the back and gently-rounded corners.
OnePlus 5T is easily manageable in one hand, despite its phablet-sized display – something that can’t be said of the Apple-branded phone that inspired its design.
OnePlus’ Alert Slider – a physical switch on the side of the phone that enables phone owners to quickly toggle between Silent, Priority and All Notifications without unlocking the device – makes a very welcome return on the OnePlus 5T.
As iPhone owners will attest, flicking a physical switch on the side of a handset is faster than trawling a the settings menu, and means you can quickly swap between enabling notifications and silencing them without waking the device – or being forced to remove it from your pocket.
One minor quibble with the OnePlus 5T is the volume rocker, which sits almost flush with the side of the handset and has an icky, spongey feel to the keys. It’s not a big issue, but can make it tough to know whether you’ve hit the button when holding the OnePlus 5T at certain angles.
OnePlus 5 had exactly the same problem – it’s a shame it wasn’t addressed in the minor redesign.
Display
. The OnePlus 5T is that rare device that made me pause and appreciate its premium feel as I was unboxing it. The packaging is perfectly standard for OnePlus — that’s not what did it — but the phone itself is so beautifully dominated by the 6-inch OLED display, with neatly symmetrical bezels at top and bottom just holding the thing together.
The sense evoked by the 5T’s design is one of efficiency and optimization, and comparing this new device against anything previous from OnePlus, even the five-month-old OnePlus 5, makes the older model feel inadequate. You’re free to disagree, and you might think I’m overreacting to the thin-bezel craze that OnePlus is now participating in, but I challenge you to think forward a few months. Thin-bezel phones are quickly going to take over the market, and anyone stuck with a fat-bezel device will feel behind the curve. This OnePlus 5T looks lovely today and I can be confident in saying it will still look modern and fresh a year from now.
The move of the fingerprint sensor from the front to the back of the phone has been a total triumph. Covered by a smooth ceramic, the reader sits exactly where you’d find it on Google’s Pixels and LG’s G6 and V30: horizontally centered and a third of the way down. I find it perfectly usable and reliable, but for those situations where you might still want to access the phone without lifting it off a table to ID yourself, OnePlus has also added a new Face Unlock feature to the 5T.
Price and availability
The OnePlus 5T is now available in countries all over the world, including the U.S, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, U.K., China, and Hong Kong. There's only one color option, and it's Midnight Black, and you can get it straight from the OnePlus website.
The best thing about OnePlus phones, however, has long been the price. In the U.S., it will set you back $500, or 500 euros in Europe, or 450 British pounds in the U.K. It's $20 more in the U.S. than the OnePlus 5, but it stays the same in many other countries overseas. That's still a lot of money considering the low price of the original OnePlus One, but you're getting performance and specifications that match most $650+ flagship smartphones.