The OnePlus 10 Pro was unceremoniously leaked weeks ago in the form of CAD-based renders. Finished renders soon followed, and like clockwork, more details such as videos of dummy and official posters made their way online. But it appears that the chatter about the OnePlus 10 Pro’s polarizing design, centered in large part on that wild camera island design, got a bit too much for CEO Pete Lau, so he posted a bunch of official product shots and renders.
To be fair, the OnePlus 10 Pro doesn’t look that bad, especially in its all-black avatar. The contrasting sandstone-like matte finish of the rear panel and the shiny camera island lend it some identity. The green color option, well, it looks like an acquired taste. The shade of green at play here somewhat resembles the iPhone 11 Pro’s Midnight Green, if it was a tad more lively. There is some likeness to the Pixel 5’s Sorta Sage shade, but OnePlus has gone with a slightly darker overtone of green here.
A color-changing back?
But wait. Why does the green OnePlus 10 Pro looks glittery in one shot, and matte in another? Is OnePlus offering it in two flavors that juggle between modest and gaudy? Or has OnePlus pulled some material magic here? Well, the mystery will officially get cleared up next week. But just to refresh your memory, Vivo — a company that operates alongside OnePlus under the aegis of BBK Electronics — already sells phones with a color-changing rear panel.
Color palette ramblings aside, the OnePlus 10 Pro in green is sure to stand out in the crowd, and that is a victory in itself. Whether everyone likes it is a debate for another day. But that wide camera housing with three camera lenses will certainly stick out, quite literally so. As Pete Lau noted in his Weibo post, he “really feels good” about it. In a separate post, Lau mentions that the company adopted a “brand-new design that breaks boundaries” and has a “unique style” element to it.
Here’s what we know so far
He’s not wrong. We can definitely see the uniqueness here, but how it fares when it comes to the notoriously picky buyers remains to be seen. The phone comes out on January 11, and tagging alongside will be the less powerful and more affordable OnePlus 10. The specifications sheet, as per leaks, will be the usual 2022 Android flagship affair. A high refresh rate AMOLED display, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 powering the innards, blazing-fast 125-watt charging, megapixel-heavy cameras with some Hassselblad tricks, and a fresh UI experience built on top of Android 12.
