Something to look forward to: Purported images of the forthcoming OnePlus 7 show a notch-free design with a mechanical pop-up camera. OnePlus was originally thought to be planning a sliding mechanism for the front camera similar to the Oppo Find X. Expect the OnePlus 7 to drop in May, with the 7T following later this year.
After one generation, OnePlus seems to be moving away from the teardrop notch found on the OnePlus 6T. If images leaked to Weibo and Slashleaks prove to be accurate, the OnePlus 7 will feature a slim bezel with a pop up camera and no notch at all. Previous leaks of the OnePlus 7 showed a curved display with a sliding mechanism to hide the front-facing camera and eliminate the notch.
While there aren't many phones to use to gather data from, the long-term durability of a motorized, pop-up camera is concerning. The idea of a mechanical pop-up camera hasn't gained much traction throughout the smartphone industry, even though it's an idea that has been in the mainstream for some time now. To me, it seems like adding a camera like this unnecessarily introduces a failure point in the phone's hardware. While the Vivo Nex pulled off this design last year, that phone was limited to a China-only release. If OnePlus implements this technology, they would be the largest phone manufacturer to do so.
Stubbornly, OnePlus is still supposedly holding out on wireless charging. Per Slashgear, the new OnePlus 7 will not feature wireless charging, a technology that CEO Pete Lau called "far inferior" to OnePlus' wired charging speeds. Other leaked specs include a 6.5-inch OLED screen, an in-screen fingerprint reader, and three rear cameras with 3D capability.
The OnePlus 7 hasn't been announced yet, but the OnePlus 6 was revealed last May. If that pattern holds up, we should be seeing the 7 within the next couple of months, followed by the 7T later this year.