OnePlus 9 Series To Launch In Malaysia On 17 May

March saw the unveiling of the OnePlus 9 and its Pro variant. Now, it looks like the phones are ready to make an appearance in Malaysia. The company has announced that it will be launching the series on our shores next week.

The announcement came via the official OnePlus Malaysia Facebook page. The launch event will be streamed there on 17 May at noon.

In terms of specs, the company has pretty much revealed everything there is to know about the OnePlus 9 series. Both phones feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, and have rear camera setups co-developed with camera maker Hasselblad. Both come with a 48MP main + 50MP wide angle + 2MP monochrome cameras, with the Pro model getting an extra 8MP telephoto camera.

Other items on the OnePlus 9 spec sheet include a 6.55-inch Full HD+ screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. The Pro model comes with a larger, 6.7-inch QHD+ display, also with a 120Hz refresh rate. Both come with a 4500mAh battery that supports the company’s Warp Charge 65T tech. But for wireless charging, the base model is rated at 15W, with the Pro model going up to 50W.

With all that out of the way, the only thing left to look out for during the local launch of the OnePlus 9 series are their local prices. That, and if both configurations of the Pro model will be making an appearance on our shores.

OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro Now Official: Featuring Snapdragon 888, 120Hz Display, Hasselblad Camera

Even though these phones have only received their official launch this evening, the existence of the OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus 9 Pro have been known for quite some time. In fact, sometimes it seemed that OnePlus was trying to one-up the leakers by revealing details of these phones themselves before their official unveiling tonight.

Nevertheless, now that the company has fully taken the drapes off its new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888-based flagship devices, this means it is finally time to get a slightly closer look at their specs.

Equipped with a 6.7-inch QHD+ LTPO AMOLED display that also has 120Hz refresh rate, the OnePlus 9 Pro carries up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS3.1-based internal storage. On another hand, the standard OnePlus 9 features a smaller 6.55-inch Full HD AMOLED display although it still has the same 120Hz refresh rate together with the same RAM and internal storage options as per its Pro sibling.

One of the biggest attractions for the new OnePlus 9 Series devices is their rear camera module which was co-developed by Hasselblad, a giant within the photography world. On OnePlus 9, its main camera is equipped with a 48MP Sony IMX689 sensor and is being accompanied by 50MP Sony IMX766 ultra-wide, and 2MP monochrome cameras.

Meanwhile, OnePlus has retained the 50MP ultra-wide and 2MP monochrome cameras for the Pro model too but the main camera features a Sony IMX789 48MP sensor instead while there is an 8MP telephoto camera on the phone as well. Both models also come with a selfie camera that has a 16MP Sony IMX471 sensor.

Despite their differences, both phones have the same battery capacity of 4500mAh. They also support the company’s Warp Charge 65T fast charging tech that apparently allows their batteries to be charged from 0-100% in less than 30 minutes. Interesting enough, the power rating of the OnePlus 9’s wireless charging feature is up to 15W but the OnePlus 9 Pro has a much higher ceiling limit at 50W.

At the moment, OnePlus has not yet revealed the release date and pricing for the OnePlus 9 Series in Malaysia. Just in case you need a reference though, the standard OnePlus 9 with 8GB and 128GB internal storage will be made available in Europe for EUR 699 (~RM 3,418) while the 12GB/256GB variant goes for EUR 799 (~RM 3,908).

On another hand, the OnePlus 9 Pro with 8GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB options are listed at EUR 899 (~RM 4,397) and EUR 999 (~RM 4,886), respectively.  As per our past experiences with European prices, we foresee that the OnePlus 9 Series devices will likely be released in Malaysia with a much lower price tag and that is something that we will keep you updated once we hear more from OnePlus.

OnePlus Watch Teaser Hints Launch Date; May Debut Alongside OnePlus 9 Series

As promised by CEO Pete Lau back in December, OnePlus has confirmed that it will launch its first ever smartwatch very soon. As teased via the brand’s official Twitter account, the wearable is hinted to debut alongside its latest flagship smartphones, the OnePlus 9 series, later this month.

The tweet also provided brief glimpses of the upcoming watch – revealing what appears to be a circular watch face, among other things. Its specifications are not known at this time, but OnePlus hinted via its official forums that the wearable will come with the typical health, fitness and sleep tracking capabilities. Should the OnePlus Watch come with features unique to its own, we can safely expect the brand to only reveal them during the launch.

On a related note, there’s also a possibility that the upcoming device will launch in Malaysia around the same time as its global debut. According to PriceBaba, a listing of the OnePlus Watch (under its model name W310GB) has been spotted on the SIRIM eComM database and was recently approved by the organisation on 8 March 2021. However, after searching through the database ourselves in order to confirm this, it appears that the listing is nonexistent. That, or it may have been removed entirely.

OnePlus may debut its first ever smartwatch together with its upcoming OnePlus 9 flagship smartphones on 23 March. The launch event will be live streamed via the brand’s official website and social media channels at 10pm Malaysian time.

OnePlus 9 Series Launching On 23 March; Hasselblad Partnership Confirmed

OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has announced via the brand’s official forums that the latest OnePlus 9 series will be launching on 23 March. Lau also confirmed that OnePlus has signed a three-year partnership with Swedish camera maker Hasselblad to co-develop the imaging system for the upcoming smartphones as well as its future flagship devices.

Hasselblad is known to manufacture medium format cameras for both photography and video production. As emphasised in the recent promotional material for the upcoming OnePlus 9 series, the camera maker’s biggest accomplishment is the use of its 500 EL Data Camera models in several NASA moon missions – producing iconic photographs such as “Earthrise” by US astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 moon orbiter mission, and “First Footprint on the Moon” by Buzz Aldrin during the historical Apollo 11 moon landing mission.

According to Lau, both OnePlus and Hasselblad have been working closely together to create a new colour solution known as Natural Color Calibration with Hasselblad, which will serve as a new standard for all future OnePlus smartphone camera systems – starting with the OnePlus 9 series. The CEO promises that the new joint-developed imaging system on the new flagships will produce images with higher quality, sharper detail, and accurate colours.

While three years does seem pretty short for a major partnership such as this, the duration makes sense in a business and development perspective. OnePlus isn’t particularly known for the photography performance of its smartphones, and Hasselblad’s first foray into the mobile scene with Motorola in 2017 wasn’t as groundbreaking as most would’ve hoped. Therefore, playing it safe with a three-year deal is sufficient for both companies in order to determine whether the results of their collaboration are deemed significant, let alone profitable. Of course, we can expect the partnership to be extended longer should this end up being a success.

In the same forum post, Lau also confirmed that the upcoming OnePlus 9 series’ cameras will feature a custom Sony IMX789 for the main sensor, 12-bit RAW support for stills, a panoramic camera with 140-degree FOV (field of view), and a freeform lens for its ultra-wide camera that eliminates edge distortion. Video-wise, the series is capable of recording 4K footage at 120 fps and 8K at 30 fps, and also better HDR videos via the Hasselblad Camera for Mobile solution.

Aside from featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, other specifications of the OnePlus 9 series are still kept under wraps at this time. Unofficial sources suggest that the flagships may come with a 6.55-inch display with 120Hz refresh rate, dual stereo speakers, and a 4,500mAh battery with fast charging support at 65W for wired and 40W wireless.

The company will reveal more details regarding the upcoming OnePlus 9 series and its partnership with Hasselblad via a virtual launch on 23 March at 10pm. The event will be streamed live through the company’s official website, as well as its social media channels.