The first image is a rendered one and it comes courtesy of serial leakster Evan Blass (@evleaks). Things of note here is the return of the front-mounted fingerprint sensor that sits just below the smartphone’s display.
On the back, we see the OnePlus logo plastered on what looks like a full metal back case. What’s interesting is that this design looks eerily similar to that of an HTC One M9 from the antenna lines to the square camera module.
Our guess of a fully metallic OnePlus 3 seems to be confirmed by this next set of live images from @KJuma. Here the smartphone looks to have a gently curved back which is likely for ergonomics as well as a Samsung-esque camera bump. One notable feature that is missing from the back of the smartphone is a laser autofocus module.
Around the bottom, we see a single speaker grille and asymmetrical design similar to that of a Samsung Galaxy S7, iPhone 6s and HTC One A9. That’s honestly a nice departure from their dummy grille design from the bottom of the OnePlus 2. In the dummy grille’s place sits a headphone jack and what looks like microphone ports along with a USB Type-C port.
It is worth pointing out that in this image, the fingerprint sensor looks a lot more like a button (similar to the OPPO R9/F1 Plus) rather than a recessed dimple. Around the side, we find what has become OnePlus’ signature alert slider.
As a whole, it looks like a really handsome device. Knowing OnePlus, this smartphone will likely pack the best specs you can get this year, with even hints that there will be a version with 6GB of RAM to go along with the lower specced 4GB variant.
At the heart of the device, reports have indicated that it will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor and will go on sale for a slightly lower price than the OnePlus 2.
Unfortunately, if Evan Blass’ words are to be believed, it seems that the OnePlus 3 will only be packing a 3,000 mAh battery. Then again, it will come with an AMOLED display (like the OnePlus X) which should mean that the device is more frugal with its power consumption.