Opinion: The OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition looks great – but it’s totally pointless
OnePlus has unveiled a special OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition phone to sit alongside its spiffy new OnePlus 7T Pro, and boy does it look pointless.
The OnePlus 7T McLaren Edition was unveiled at the company’s T-series launch event in London, where it revealed price details for the existing OnePlus 7T and its new OnePlus 7T Pro flagship.
But before you go rushing for your wallet to grab one of the limited edition phones, you should be aware that it uses pretty much the exact same hardware as the OnePlus 7T Pro – it doesn’t even come with faster charging, like the original OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition did.
All you have here is a OnePlus 7T Pro with some fancy orange flourishes along its edges, a custom graphic on its back and slightly improved 12GB of RAM.
Sure, race fans may still enjoy the atypical looks, but considering how confused OnePlus’ current phone portfolio already is, this makes the McLaren edition feel completely pointless – and like a clear cash grab. This is a fact that’s clearly not lost on OnePlus CEO and founder Pete Lau, who’s statement justifying the phone’s existence focused on sales and little else.
“We’ve long been inspired by the McLaren brand spirit as an established company that continues to innovate,” he said.
“The public reaction to the OnePlus 6T McLaren edition was incredible, users enjoyed seeing us working together to push boundaries, and we are thrilled to continue working together.”
Being fair to OnePlus, I’ve never been a big fan of special edition phones made in collaboration with car manufacturers. That said, at least Huawei makes a little more effort with its Porsche edition handsets, which usually come with a few custom features you don’t get on the base model.
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The lack of changes is particularly annoying as I’d already been questioning the value of the OnePlus 7T Pro as an upgrade on the OnePlus 7 Pro – the only big differences are the T-version’s use of a slightly better Snapdragon 855 Plus CPU and newer Warp Charge 30T fast charging.
Seriously OnePlus, it’s time to chill. We don’t need a new phone every five minutes.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.