The evolution of flash based storage helps gadget makers to slim down their devices. Albeit the per GB cost was initially way more higher than traditional mechanical medias, advantages such as better read/write speed and greater energy efficiency made them ideal choice for portable devices.

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The iPod Classic came with a HDD inside! (Image source: iFixit)

The first three OnePlus phones, i.e. the OnePlus One, OnePlus 2 and OnePlus X featured fifth generation of eMMC flash storage. The Chinese OEM took some time to adopt the next generation storage tech aka UFS (Universal Flash Storage), which arrived with OnePlus 3 in 2016.

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OnePlus 3 came with UFS 2.0 storage 

The transition from eMMC to UFS was a significant improvement. OnePlus also went for Flash-Friendly File System (F2FS) instead of traditional EXT4 file system for the /system partition with the release of OnePlus 3T later in the same year – a move that dramatically improved app opening speed.

The next major upgrade of the UFS tech would be UFS 3.0, the specification of which was finalized back in January 2018. Being a leading NAND manufacturer, Samsung took the pole position of manufacturing the new generation of flash based storage.

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Samsung Galaxy S10 5G: The S10 lineup was released with UFS 2.1, not UFS 3.0

Although the latest flagship SoCs from Qualcomm (Snapdragon 855) and Samsung (Exynos 9820) support UFS 3.0 storage, Samsung failed to incorporate the fastest storage chip with the 10th anniversary edition of Galaxy S series due to production delays.

Android community then speculated that the upcoming Galaxy Fold would be the first phone to feature UFS 3.0 chips. However, due to the recent controversies about screen failures, Samsung had to delay the official release of their first folding phone.

A classic example of the turtle and the rabbit story: under the current circumstances, the upcoming OnePlus 7 Pro should be the first phone to sport the high speed UFS 3.0 storage.

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The alleged Nebula Blue color variant of OnePlus 7 Pro

Prominent leaker Max J. aka @Samsung_News_ did share the speculative configuration earlier, which was later seconded by XDA Developers Portal team.

We’re fairly confident that the OnePlus 7 Pro will have UFS 3.0 storage thanks to the information we obtained from a source familiar with the phone’s development.

Merely hours after the XDA article got published, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau officially confirmed that the whole OnePlus 7 series (which includes the regular OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7 Pro and the 5G variant of OnePlus 7 Pro) are going to feature UFS 3.0 storage.

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Source

The beefy third generation of UFS storage will be an important factor behind the smoothness of the OnePlus 7 series, as indicated by Pete. Meanwhile, leakster Ishan Agarwal finalized the internal configuration of the OP7 Pro variant from his end.

Confirming The #OnePlus7Pro Specifications from my side:

-Rear Camera: 48MP (F/1.6, OIS) + 8MP (F/2.2, OIS, telephoto) + 16MP (PDAF, Ultrawide)

-Front: 16MP Pop-Up

-Processor: Snapdragon 855

-Display: 6.67″ 2K, 90Hz Fluid AMOLED

-UFS 3.0

-4000mAH, Warp Charge 30W

-Dual Stereo Speakers

-In-Display Optical Fingerprint Scanner

-RAM+Storage (as revealed earlier): 6+128GB, 8+256GB, 12+256GB

(Source)

As a matter of fact, Ishan went one step further and leaked the tentative Indian pricing of the OnePlus 7 Pro:

oneplus_7_pro_india_price_ishan
Source

According to him, these prices may change before the launch under extreme circumstances, but the current values should be pretty much reliable. It could also be possible that the regular OnePlus 7 would be up for sales a few days later than the Pro model.

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Source

The price segment OnePlus is targeting usually demand waterproofing as a basic feature. However, OnePlus prefers not to go for such IP ratings due to certification costs.

Now the Chinese OEM decided to present a hilarious ‘bucket challenge’ to show the water resistance power of the OnePlus 7 series, while defending their stance against the IP certifications.

To nullify the immediate negative reactions after posting the video, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei created a thread in the official OnePlus forums. In their support, he told the following:

We know that an IP rating would be the simplest way to prove our phone’s capability, but the certification doesn’t help us communicate our focus on your real experience, which is why we created this direct and relatable video to show you what our water-resistant quality can actually bring to you in your real life in a more powerful way.

Moreover, Carl suggested end users not to opt for the ‘bucket challenge’ with their OnePlus 7 phones:

However, this is not a bucket challenge, and we certainly don’t want all of you to try to drop your OnePlus 7 Pro in a bucket. And just like other smartphone brands that do IP classify their devices, our warranty does not cover water damage.

This also doesn’t mean that we’ll never consider IP classifying our products in the future.

The last sentence is pretty significant here – will OnePlus finally present the OnePlus 7T with a proper IP rating? Time will tell.

What we do know that the screen of the OnePlus 7 Pro will be HDR10+ certified. This open standard ensures optimum representation of contrast from the HDR source content. In a press release, the company said:

OnePlus is thrilled to bring a flagship smartphone to the market that supports HDR10+ and the move gives users a visual experience of the future.

OnePlus CEO Pete further added:

We are proud to have entered into a partnership with YouTube and Netflix to give users the ability to watch videos in HDR10-quality.

While OnePlus is devoting most of their resources to the successful launch of the OnePlus 7 series, a long standing bug is irritating OxygenOS users. Beside OnePlus 6/6T and 5/5T, the OnePlus 3/3T phones are also affected by this glitch, where the contacts listed under Speed Dial are being randomly wiped out..

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For further details, head over to this article.

Let’s call it a day, ciao!

PiunikaWeb is a unique initiative that mainly focuses on investigative journalism. This means we do a lot of hard work to come up with news stories that are either ‘exclusive,’ ‘breaking,’ or ‘curated’ in nature. Perhaps that’s the reason our work has been picked by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and more. Do take a tour of our website to get a feel of our work. And if you like what we do, stay connected with us on Twitter (@PiunikaWeb) and other social media channels to receive timely updates on stories we publish.

Kingshuk De
896 Posts

I came from a mixed background of Statistics and Computer Science. My research domains included embedded computer systems, mobile computing and delay tolerant networks in post-disaster scenarios. Apart from tinkering with gadgets or building hackintosh, I like to hop on various subreddits and forums like MyDigitalLife and XDA.

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