240Hz display? Latest OnePlus 16 leak smells of desperation

The past few months have been tough for OnePlus, with its products showing a declining trend and rumors going around that the company is being shut down entirely in favor of Oppo (a rumor which was debunked by Oppo). But it looks like OnePlus wants to make a last ditch effort to survive – which may be quite desperate considering the way it’s playing with its identity.

OnePlus has launched a mid-ranger in China that aims to be a gaming phone without fully adopting a gaming persona. In parallel, rumors about its upcoming flagship – the OnePlus 16 – have spread, hinting at some interesting options… which kind of smell of deep desperation.

Back in the day, when 60Hz was still the standard and 120Hz only appeared on flagships, this felt like a pretty big upgrade, one that was actually noticeable to most users. As we go up the refresh rate ladder, the visual difference begins to diminish. Going from 90Hz to 120Hz won’t seem as big an upgrade as switching from 60Hz to something higher.

I haven’t heard a single person complaining that there isn’t enough Hz on their phone, which already refreshes at 120Hz. Still, dedicated gaming phones are already pushing the limits by going up to 144 and 165Hz, which already feels overkill. However, OnePlus thought that this is still not enough and is about to launch its next flagship with a 240Hz display. This number is obviously not for the benefit of real-world users – it’s just to make the spec sheet look attractive.

There There are only a few Android games today that can reach 120fpsWhile most titles are still based at a beautiful 60fps. Those specific games already exceed the current 120Hz limit and can’t use any additional Hz. And if games even try to exceed that frame rate, it will have such a severe impact on the phone’s thermal performance and battery life that there will be no point in running games on a mobile phone without active cooling.

OnePlus is simply trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.

It seems like OnePlus is really following the philosophy of go big or go home. But I think there is a ray of hope here too.

Among other rumors, the OnePlus 16 is set to go up a notch from the OnePlus 15 and feature a larger 9,000mAh battery. It’s a dream come true, as we all are demanding more and more battery capacity in our phones, so that we don’t have to hunt around for power banks and remember to charge our phones every morning. I can understand the idea of ​​having such huge batteries in phones, as long as they don’t make the phone so heavy that it’s a pain on the wrist or so thick that it becomes a brick.

And I think this is where OnePlus’ long-touted superfast charging capability will also shine. While a normal 4,000-5,000mAh battery can drain in about 30-40 minutes with OnePlus’ proprietary 100W (or more) charging speed, having a 9,000mAh battery only makes sense if you’re not spending the entire day charging it. If the phone lasts for two days in a row with an hour or more of plug-in time, I’ll call it a win.

Secondly, OnePlus seems to be doing some very interesting things with its camera. While Samsung uses a 200MP sensor for its primary camera on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, OnePlus is rumored to use such a higher resolution for its periscope telephoto camera. If it works as expected, that high-resolution sensor will help improve detail when you zoom beyond the phone’s optical zoom limit. I find this approach very interesting, and I might make more use of the phone’s telephoto camera if it could capture more detail on distant subjects.

But despite these useful features, it still feels like OnePlus is going to extremes just to stand out.

Whatever the OnePlus 16 turns out to be based on these leaks, it definitely doesn’t seem to be a balanced product. OnePlus is pushing every single aspect of the phone to its limits – to a point where it’s gone from being a afterthought to feeling like a collection of headline features. That’s not a good image for a flagship smartphone to project; A brand that’s trying too hard to impress smells of desperation.

In the past, you’d choose OnePlus phones for the best performance and software experience, finding a balance between the simplicity of the Pixel and the feature-packed nature of the Samsung, while doing pretty much everything else. But OnePlus broke that image long ago. And right now, it’s trying to chase multiple things at once just to get your attention.

Trying to get ahead in the spec race has led OnePlus to flirt with gaming phones to the extreme. And frankly, the OnePlus 16 isn’t going to be like that, so who is it trying to accomplish with its super high refresh rate screen that has no real-world impact compared to any other phone on the market?

As far as I remember, the tech community has criticized OnePlus for introducing passive cameras instead of going all out. Even its parent company’s flagships have proper flagship-class image performance, but OnePlus has always lagged behind.

Instead of addressing such feedback (hopefully the OnePlus 16 will make up for it), a change to a spec sheet that earned OnePlus bragging rights reveals why it’s lagging behind in this smartphone race. Looking at it, I suspect something is going to change this year too.