OnePlus 16 Debuts With Record 185Hz Display and Massive 9,000mAh Battery, but Price Jumps Sharply in China

SHENZHEN, China — OnePlus has unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 16, featuring what the company says is the fastest display refresh rate on any phone, a significantly larger battery and upgraded cameras, but with a starting price well above its predecessor.

The Chinese smartphone maker introduced the device Monday at an event at the Oppo Marina Bay Center, with sales in China beginning Tuesday at 10 a.m. local time.

The launch comes as OnePlus narrows its geographic focus. The company has pulled out of North America and Europe, making the OnePlus 16 its first flagship that will not be released in the United States or Europe.

Record-setting display

The phone's headline feature is its 6.78-inch flat OLED screen, made by Chinese display manufacturer BOE. OnePlus says it is the first phone with a display running at a native systemwide refresh rate of 165 hertz, capable of reaching 185 hertz in supported games.

Refresh rate refers to how many times per second a screen updates its image. Higher rates can make scrolling and motion appear smoother, a feature particularly valued by mobile gamers.

According to a OnePlus product manager, the company kept 165 hertz as the default setting to ensure stable frame rates, reserving the 185-hertz mode for specifically optimized games.

The 185-hertz figure describes how often the display can refresh, while the frame rate depends on each game's support and optimization. OnePlus has named only selected compatible titles, though it says its technology can help some games that do not natively support 185 frames per second reach the higher rate.

OnePlus says the higher refresh rate can improve display speed by 35% and reduce control response time by 11.1 milliseconds. The company also introduced a new gaming kernel and a custom three-chip system for networking, display and touch control.

Oppo, OnePlus' sister company, and OnePlus have been at the forefront of phone display technology for several years, often working closely with display makers to develop panels with specific capabilities.

Performance

The OnePlus 16 is powered by Qualcomm's 2-nanometer Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset, which OnePlus described as the sixth generation of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme line. The chip reaches peak core speeds of 5 gigahertz, a first for a smartphone processor.

The company also upgraded its Glacier cooling system with a vapor chamber it says performs 40% better than before. In promoting the phone, OnePlus said it aimed to deliver "the strongest performance ever for performance enthusiasts."

In China, the phone runs ColorOS 17, based on Google's Android 17 operating system.

Bigger battery

The 9,000-milliamp-hour battery is the phone's main upgrade over the OnePlus 15, which used a 7,300 mAh cell. The silicon-carbon battery supports 100-watt wired charging and 50-watt wireless charging.

OnePlus says the phone can reach 80% charge in 37 minutes using a wired charger despite the larger battery. The company also claims the battery will maintain at least 80% of its capacity for five years.

Camera upgrades

The OnePlus 16 reverses a camera downgrade that drew criticism on the OnePlus 15. The new model features a 200-megapixel main camera with a 1/1.4-inch sensor and f/1.6 aperture, a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 50-megapixel 3x telephoto camera.

The telephoto camera uses a 1/1.95-inch sensor, substantially larger than the 1/2.76-inch sensor used last year. Larger sensors generally capture more light, which can improve image quality in low-light conditions.

OnePlus is also offering a panoramic-style mode that captures full-resolution 200-megapixel images in a wide 65:24 aspect ratio. A 50-megapixel front camera handles selfies.

Design and configurations

The phone comes in three colors: Tomorrow's Starlight, Dark Forest and Mars Masterpiece. The Tomorrow's Starlight version includes LED lighting on the back that can display a large number 16.

It is available in four memory and storage configurations: 12 gigabytes of memory with 256GB or 512GB of storage, and 16GB of memory with 512GB or 1 terabyte of storage. An 8GB model that appeared in earlier leaks was not included.

Price increase

The OnePlus 16 marks a notable price increase. The base model with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage costs 5,699 yuan, or about $848, at launch. With China's national subsidy, it drops to 5,199 yuan, or about $774.

The 12GB/512GB model costs 6,499 yuan, or about $967, and the 16GB/512GB version costs 7,199 yuan, or about $1,071. The top 16GB/1TB model is priced at 8,199 yuan, or about $1,220. Subsidies reduce each price by 500 yuan, depending on local policy.

The introductory prices run from Oct. 12 through Nov. 13.

The starting price is 1,700 yuan, or about $253, higher than the OnePlus 15's launch price of 3,999 yuan. It is 300 yuan below the 5,999-yuan starting price of the rival iQOO 16.

Chinese media outlets attributed the higher price to rising memory and chip costs, which have pushed up prices across the smartphone industry.

Global availability uncertain

OnePlus has not announced plans for a release outside China. Previous OnePlus flagships typically launched in India and other global markets about a month after their Chinese debut. The OnePlus 15 reached global markets in November 2025.

Reports have suggested OnePlus could release the OnePlus 16 in India and select other markets later this year, though the company has not confirmed those plans.

Despite reducing its international footprint, OnePlus has reported growth at home. The company's China general manager said sales rose 13% year over year in the first quarter.

Competitive market

The OnePlus 16 enters a crowded field of Chinese flagship phones launched this fall, including the iQOO 16, which also features a high-refresh-rate display and large battery.

With its gaming-focused display, top-tier processor and large battery, OnePlus is positioning the phone as a premium option for mobile gamers, while its camera upgrades aim to make it a stronger all-around flagship.