OnePlus 3S gets certified in China: it works to get daydream kit!!!

There have been rumours of a refreshed OnePlus 3 smartphone ever since the smartphone began running out of stocks globally. Some cited the shortage of optic AMOLED displays being the reason for the delay in shipping and longer waiting periods for delivery. But now there is some new evidence that has surfaced online that points to the existence of this OnePlus refresh.

Tagged as the OnePlus A3010 (the OnePlus 3 is the A3000) the new device just received its 3C certification in China. The numbers on the screenshot obtained by GizmoChina shows a smartphone that could look identical to the OnePlus 3 from the outside, with updated hardware on the inside.

Dubbed the OnePlus 3S, the A3010 was suspected to pack in an LCD display instead of the now standard optic AMOLED panel.

But Co Founder Carl Pei was quick to comment on the topic and confirmed that OnePlus will be going ahead with optic AMOLED displays and that the company is constantly tweaking to make them better.

So why is OnePlus working on a refresh of an existing smartphone? Well, the answer to this could be Google’s Daydream. You see, with Android 7.0 Nougat making its way to OnePlus 3 smartphones, manufacturers will soon begin to lose out, if their flagship smartphones do not support the new VR functionality coming from Google. With months to go till next year’s MWC (and the smartphone launches that comes with it) we could be looking at a OnePlus 3S that is Daydream ready. All that’s needed is a hardware upgrade and the Snapdragon 821 seems like the only VR-ready candidate (chipset) at the moment.

With that said the price tags could go up or the price tag of the OnePlus 3 could go a few notches down, but it will give OnePlus an edge in terms of being able to turn around a flagship smartphone with Daydream capabilities. The OnePlus 3S may also turn out to be the only smartphone out there if it arrives before the holiday season.

So far Samsung, HTC, Huawei and LG have plans to build Daydream-ready smartphones, but these are expected to arrive this fall. And all of these manufacturers have already showcased their flagships for the current year. OnePlus already has an edge in terms of pricing, adding Daydream capabilities to an existing smartphone with smaller modifications will only make the deal sweeter for buyers.