‘The Z factor’, a wireless charger and vibrant earbuds: What to expect from the OnePlus online launch event

As the country (and most of the world) remains in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, tech enthusiasts now have an event that will help them beat the lockdown blues. OnePlus is all set to host an online-only launch event tomorrow, 8:30 pm IST (Indian Standard Time).

At the much-awaited event, the company is expected to launch the OnePlus 8 series of phones viz. the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro. Much like their predecessors OnePlus 7 and 7T, 8 and 8 Pro will be similar but will also have some key differences. The word on the street is that the 8 Pro will have a higher refresh rate of 120 Hz and a quad camera setup as compared to the triple rear camera of OnePlus 8.

Rumour mills also suggest that OnePlus 8 Pro will come with a water- and dust-proof design. Coming to the hardware, it has already been confirmed by OnePlus CEO Pete Lau that both the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro will be powered by Snapdragon 865 chipset on forums.OnePlus.com, the smartphone maker’s official blog.

What’s more? It was also confirmed by OnePlus that both smartphones will come with 30W wireless charging support.

Apart from OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro, two more products are expected to be launched at the event. One of them was teased by OnePlus India’s Twitter handle.

‘Got something up our zleeves,’ the tweet read. If rumours are to be believed, OnePlus is coming up with Bullets Wireless Z earbuds in a blue colour option. While it cannot be ascertained if the buds will be truly wireless like Apple’s AirPods, they are expected to come with wireless charging and water-proof design among other cool features.

Another product which tech enthusiasts can expect to be launched at the OnePlus event is the Warp Charge 30 Wireless, which OnePlus has already confirmed with a post on their forums. The Warp Charge 30 is expected to be a wireless charger, similar to the one Google launched earlier.

Building on the ‘Z Factor’, there are rumours that OnePlus might launch ‘OnePlus Z’, a more affordable version of OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro. The price range of 8 and 8 Pro will likely be higher than that of 7 and 7T and an affordable phone might help OnePlus target the mainstream market.

However, the launch of ‘OnePlus Z’ hasn’t been confirmed yet.