Qualcomm’s next-gen chip is set to be announced a bit earlier than usual this year, and apparently, that’s opening the door to the first new device with the chip arriving before 2022 is done. According to a new rumor, OnePlus will unveil one of the first devices with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 before the end of the year.

Digital Chat Station on Weibo this week claims that OnePlus will unveil its next flagship smartphone by the end of the year. That would put the device considerably earlier than what we saw with the OnePlus 10 Pro’s debut in January 2022.

The rumor claims this new OnePlus device will run atop the SM8550, which is known to be Snapdragon’s next flagship chip, thought to be called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 came with the model number SM8450.

That chip is set to be officially announced around November 15, during Qualcomm’s next summit event.

If OnePlus’ pattern from this year follows, it seems likely that the “OnePlus 11 Pro,” if that’s what it ends up being called, would debut first in China before expanding globally later in the year. The OnePlus 10 Pro ended up being released in North America and other regions at the end of March.

It seems reasonable to expect based on this rumor that the “OnePlus 11 Pro” could arrive sometime in December of this year. It’s also rumored that OnePlus will debut its first foldable smartphones in 2023, probably based on Oppo’s next entries.

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