EE UK Aim to be First in the World to Offer a OnePlus 5G Phone in 2019

Mobile operator EE has this evening announced that they are aiming to “become the first operator in the world” to range the future OnePlus 5G Smartphone in 2019, which will stem from a new R&D partnership with the handset manufacturer.

Last month EE named the first 16 UK cities to benefit from their forthcoming commercial roll-out of an ultrafast (multi-Gigabit capable) 5G mobile and wireless home broadband ISP network (here), which is due to begin later in 2019 and will initially only focus on covering the busiest locations (London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast etc.).

At the time the operator hinted that it hoped to launch 5G mobile services via “multiple smartphone partners,” but no solid details were confirmed. Today we learn that the Shenzhen-based Chinese / Swedish Smartphone manufacturer, OnePlus, will be their first confirmed partner.

Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s Consumer division, said:

“EE and OnePlus have a shared vision: to give our customers the best connected experience possible. We’re working together on cutting edge technology to deliver that, and we’re leading the world on the journey to 5G. Adding 5G to the UK’s number one 4G network will increase reliability, increase speeds, and keep our customers connected where they need it most. We have an ambition to connect our customers to 4G, 5G or Wi-Fi 100% of the time.”

Pete Lau, CEO and founder of OnePlus, said:

“The pursuit of speed has defined the OnePlus DNA since OnePlus was founded five years ago. There’s no one more suitable than OnePlus to make a 5G smartphone. Our users are always eager to try new things and they are now ready to experience the next generation of connectivity and speed. In response, OnePlus has poured efforts into 5G research since 2016. Today, we stand poised to embrace the dawn of 5G.”

The new phone, along with many others, will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 chip (7nm size), which is an 8 core design with an Adreno 640 graphics processor and the Snapdragon X24 LTE + Snapdragon X50 5G modem inside.