The OnePlus 8T was just unveiled as the company’s new flagship for the season. While there was no Pro-variant this time, a special OnePlus 8T Plus was also silently made available. However, there’s a catch.
For the last three generations, OnePlus has had two models of its flagship in the form of a regular number variant and a corresponding Pro variant. The OnePlus 8T is the first exception to this product strategy, being the only version of the phone being launch — or at least that’s what we were told. Soon after the announcement, T-Mobile shared details of an exclusive model.
The special variant available to T-Mobile consumers in the U.S. is called the OnePlus 8T Plus (officially: OnePlus 8T+ 5G) taps into the carrier’s 600 MHz and 2.5 GHz 5G spectrum atop the advanced LTE network that is already available. More interestingly, it is the only variant of the OnePlus 8T that has official IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. This is likely to be a case where a carrier partner decided to spend on the certification process to make its model more lucrative.
It’s unlikely that OnePlus had a different smartphone design or production line especially for T-Mobile. If that is the case, then the regular OnePlus 8T models available around the world should theoretically be equally invincible to water damage. Even in the past, the company has claimed that its phones are water-resistant, just that it decides against spending on receiving the certification to keep the costs low.
In fact, the T-Mobile OnePlus 8T Plus will sell at the same price of $749 in the States for the 12GB + 256GB variant. Other monthly plans and instalment payment options are also available. “We’ve had a longstanding partnership with OnePlus and look forward to continuing that with the latest 5G smartphone, exclusive to T-Mobile in the U.S.,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile.
The OnePlus 8T was globally unveiled on October 14 with a new 120Hz display, the Snapdragon 865 chipset with 5G capabilities, a quad-camera setup on the rear and industry-leading 65W fast charging.
Via Android Police
