OnePlus 13 tipped for a massive hardware twist we didn't see coming

There's a flurry of news on the next OnePlus phone coming to light, fuelled in part by Qualcomm's preparations for Snapdragon Summit. Although, we could see a surprising change to the hardware that we weren't expecting.

Snapdragon Summit is Qualcomm's annual event where it celebrates everything Snapdragon and announces its top hardware to power the next generation of smartphones, laptops and other devices. It's an event where phones also get teased or announced.

Xiaomi is normally centre stage when Qualcomm makes the announcements, but it's thought that OnePlus might also be in the mix this year. That partly comes from rumours that the OnePlus 13 will be one of the first to launch on a new generation of Snapdragon hardware, but also thanks to a new teaser video from Qualcomm, shared by 91mobiles.

The video gives us two things: firstly, it confirms leaks that there will be a new Snapdragon smartphone chip that uses the Oryon CPU that first appeared in the Snapdragon X Elite laptop hardware. Secondly, the outline of the phone in the video looks a lot like a OnePlus phone with that big camera on the back.

There's some debate over whether there will be a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, or whether there will only be the Snapdragon 8 Elite, or if Qualcomm will launch two tiers of hardware and use both names.

What else do we know about the OnePlus 13?

That's not the only detail that has surfaced. Thanks to Digital Chat Station (via 91mobiles) there's confirmation that the OnePlus 13 will use a previously-reported BOE X2 panel, with a 2K resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, along with an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor – and boosted brightness.

The OnePlus 12 had a display that hit 1,600 nits in High Brightness Mode (HBM), but with a peak of 4,500 nits – and it could be that the HBM brightness gets increased.

We also think this phone is nearing launch, because it's just passed through certification at the Taiwan Accreditation Foundation, where the battery capacity is revealed. This fits with the talk of a 6,000mAh battery that we previously reported on.

So, the OnePlus 13 could land with a great display, masses of next-gen power (backed by 24GB RAM), and it could have a huge battery with 100W charging – but will OnePlus be able to elevate the camera experience enough to be considered the best phone of the year?