OnePlus 9 series 5G phones to be released on March 23rd

OnePlus
(Image credit: OnePlus)

OnePlus has announced March 23rd as the official launch date for its next phones: the OnePlus 9 series, which will be announced at 10AM EDT. The launch event will stream live from OnePlus’ website.

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The OnePlus teaser claims the entire 9 series will work across all 5G networks. The series is rumoured to consist of the OnePlus 9, 9 Pro and 9 Lite, so if this is true the OnePlus 9 Lite will be one of the cheapest 5G phones on the market.

“I am confident that the OnePlus 9 Series will be a major leap forward in our ability to deliver a premium, flagship camera.”

Pete Lau, OnePlus.

“With OnePlus' top-of-the-line hardware and computational photography and Hasselblad's rich aesthetic knowledge in traditional photography, I am confident that the OnePlus 9 Series will be a major leap forward in our ability to deliver a premium, flagship camera," explained Pete Lau, co-founder and CEO at OnePlus.

Partnership with Swedish camera make

The Chinese mobile phone manufacturer has also confirmed that the OnePlus 9 series has been created in a partnership with Swedish camera maker, Hasselblad – best know for their expensive medium format cameras.

The Hassleblad partnership is big news for OnePlus, as weak camera systems have been one of the biggest criticisms of its phone offerings so far. OnePlus are using Hassleblad’s incredible reputation in the imaging world to lead their promotional material, which features reproductions of photos like ‘Earthrise’ – an iconic photo of Earth rising up from the Moon’s horizon, taken by NASA astronaut William Anders on a Hassleblad 500C.

The Hassleblad partnership sends a clear message about the OnePlus 9 series – it’s a serious launch and one they obviously aren’t expecting to be criticised for the camera system. In fact it’s been confirmed that OnePlus and Hasselblad are working together for the next three years on the phonemaker’s handsets.

"By partnering with OnePlus, we hope to put Hasselblad’s iconic design and outstanding image quality in the hands of more people."

Jon Diele, Hasselblad.

In a press release, OnePlus has said Hasselblad are working with them to improve multiple parts of the camera system: software, refining colour tuning and sensor calibration to “bring more perceptually accurate and natural-looking colors to photos taken with OnePlus flagship cameras.”

"By partnering with OnePlus, we hope to put Hasselblad’s iconic design and outstanding image quality in the hands of more people and share our passion for incredible photography," said Jon Diele, vice president at Hasselblad.

OnePlus 9 series phones will feature an in-camera ‘Hasselblad Pro Mode’ featuring a user interface based on the camera company’s own image processing software, to give more image fine-tuning control.

OnePlus has kept quite quiet about details of the 9 series other than 5G readiness and camera collaboration. However, we do know they’ll feature a new Sony IMX789 sensor and offer 12-bit RAW image capture, as seen in the Samsung S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max.

Rachael Sharpe

Rachael is a British journalist with 17 years experience in the publishing industry. Since launching www.digitalcameraworld.com, she’s been freelancing, and working for some of the world’s best-loved websites and magazines including T3.com and TechRadar.com and has also had a book, iPad for Photographers, published. A regular contributor at 5Gradar, Rachael is following the 5G market closely. Find out more at www.rachaelsharpe.com