OnePlus 16 Leaks Hint at a flagship more feature-rich than rival iPhone and Samsung models

Early leaks suggest OnePlus may be preparing one of its most ambitious flagships yet, with the rumored OnePlus 16 shaping up as a device that could outpace rival iPhone and Samsung models in raw hardware specifications.

The OnePlus 15 only launched in October, and the company is still expected to introduce a smaller OnePlus 15T. Even so, attention has already shifted to the next generation, with tipsters in China pointing to a phone that prioritizes camera hardware, display technology, and battery capacity on a scale rarely seen in mainstream flagships.

According to well-known tipster Digital Chat Station, OnePlus is testing a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto camera for the OnePlus 16. This would represent a major jump from the 50MP telephoto camera used in the OnePlus 15 and could place OnePlus ahead of current iPhone and Samsung offerings in terms of zoom hardware on paper.

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More significant than the megapixel figure is the claim of a much larger sensor, possibly around the 1/1.x-inch range. If accurate, this would bring OnePlus closer to the camera strategies employed by high-end Samsung and Vivo devices, where sensor size plays a crucial role in image quality, particularly for long-range zoom and low-light photography.

The same leak suggests OnePlus is experimenting with a 200Hz display, an unusually high refresh rate even by flagship standards. While such figures make for strong marketing, their practical benefits remain uncertain, as most apps and games still struggle to fully utilize refresh rates beyond 120 Hz. Nevertheless, it would position the OnePlus 16 ahead of current iPhone and Samsung panels in terms of headline specifications.

Battery capacity could be where the OnePlus 16 most clearly distances itself from rivals. Another tipster, Old Chen Air, claims the device could feature a 9,000mAh “Glacier” battery. For comparison, recent iPhone and Samsung flagships typically use batteries well below this figure. The OnePlus 15 already packs a large 7,300 mAh unit, and OnePlus has previously shipped 9,000 mAh batteries in its Turbo series, suggesting the technology is viable.

Taken together, the leaks point to a phone that leans heavily into hardware advantages, echoing a broader trend among performance-focused Android flagships that aim to offer more features and larger components than Apple and Samsung devices.

However, as with all early leaks, caution is warranted. Higher numbers do not always translate into a better everyday experience, and software optimization, camera processing, and long-term reliability often matter as much as raw specifications.