Sketchy OnePlus 3 prototype leak shows HTC-like metal design, familiar front-mounted fingerprint sensor

A collection of photos has landed on Chinese social networking platform, Weibo, showing what is claimed to be the next generation OnePlus flagship phone. While the front looks familiar, and almost identical to the OnePlus 2’s facade, the rear looks far more like something HTC or Huawei would build.

The phone in the images has some kind of protective case on it, covering the corners, so it’s difficult to see the exact shape of the device. What is interesting, though, is that the smartphone’s body seems to be made from a solid piece of machined metal. The back looks slightly curved, and has subtle antenna bands on the top and bottom. If it wasn’t for the square, Galaxy S-like protruding camera, it would look exactly like an HTC One.

On the front, we see the physical pill-shaped fingerprint sensor/home button, which is virtually identical to that found on the front of OnePlus’ current flagship phone.

It would be very easy to dismiss this OnePlus 3 leak as fake if it wasn’t for the ‘about phone’ settings screen also shown. In it we see code-name ‘RAIN A3000′, which we’ve seen before in some leaked benchmarks. What’s more, there’s clear reference to OxygenOS, OnePlus’ bespoke software which — this time out — is based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.

It seems with every new version of OnePlus smartphone, the company adopts a completely different design and use of materials. The OnePlus One was predominantly plastic, the OnePlus 2 has a metal chassis with interchangeable plastic shells and the X is all glass, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the company change it all up again with the OnePlus 3.

Previous benchmark leaks from AnTuTu suggested that the OnePlus 3 ‘A3000’ would be equipped with a Snapdragon 820 processor, a 5.5-inch 1080p display, 4GB RAM and a 16MP rear camera. If true, it doesn’t show much imagination or ambition from the company. Unless the full HD screen is bright and colorful, or the phone has another killer feature, it’s hard to see how it will be a ‘flagship killer’ like the very first OnePlus phone was.