OnePlus 9RT is here with a Snapdragon 888 chipset, sub-$600 price tag

The phone is likely to launch in India sometime later this quarter.

What you need to know

• OnePlus 9 RT is the company’s latest value flagship.
• It comes with a 120Hz OLED display, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chipset, and a 50MP main camera.
• The phone will be available in China from October 19 for a starting price of 3,299 yuan (about $512).

OnePlus has finally taken the wraps off the OnePlus 9RT, a follow-up to the value-focused 9R that it introduced earlier this year. While it isn’t vastly different from its predecessor, the 9RT does come with a few significant upgrades.

Unlike the OnePlus 9R, which features a Snapdragon 870 chipset, the new OnePlus 9RT is powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 888. The 5nm chipset has been paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.

The OnePlus 9RT is an upgrade over its predecessor in the camera department as well. It uses a more impressive 50MP Sony IMX766 main sensor with an f/1.88 aperture and OIS. The primary sensor is joined by a 16MP ultra-wide lens and a 2MP macro camera.

The value flagship sports a 6.62-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, FHD+ resolution, and HDR10+ compliance. Housed within the hole-punch cutout on the top-left corner of the display is a 16MP selfie camera. The OnePlus 9RT also has a 4,500mAh battery with 65W charging, an in-display fingerprint sensor, and Wi-Fi 6 support.

Disappointingly, the OnePlus 9RT will not ship with Android 12 out of the box. Instead, it is launching with Android 11-based Color OS 11.

The phone is now available to pre-order in China for a starting price of 3,299 yuan (about $512). The top-end 12GB/256GB version of the phone is priced at 3,799 yuan (about $589). It is set to go on sale in the country from October 19.

While there’s no word on global availability yet, the OnePlus 9RT is likely to soon make its way to India to challenge the best Android phones from Xiaomi and Samsung in the affordable flagship segment.

OnePlus 9

$730 at Amazon

Even though it isn’t as affordable as the new OnePlus 9RT, the vanilla OnePlus 9 is still one of the best value flagships on the market. The phone has a gorgeous 120Hz OLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset with 5G connectivity, and capable cameras.