Forget about the iPhone 15 — this is the phone I’m waiting for

With the onslaught of iPhone 15 rumors becoming a constant in my daily work life, nothing I’ve read thus far has convinced me that this will be a must-buy. The iPhone is rumored to arrive with a new periscope camera, more battery life, smaller bezels, a new A17 Bionic chip, and even more AI. Even with all that, my soul just sighs as if you said water is wet. 

Part of it, perhaps, is simply iPhone 15 rumor fatigue. They’re taking a button away, no they’re adding a button, no wait, there will be no buttons, and a behind-the-display fingerprint reader is coming. What’s more, many of the rumored updates to iPhone 15, well, those features are already available on Android phones. Instead of innovating, Apple just seems to be playing a game of copy-and-paste engineering. Most of the iPhone’s improvements have been software-based, which doesn’t cut it. 

Even Motorola, a company Apple had beaten nearly to death, has been more innovative lately. The latest Razr is a brilliant device and gaining a massive fan base thanks to its stunning, sturdy design, potent specs, and excellent performance.

The phone or phones I rather spend my money instead

Apple’s lack of innovation since the iPhone 11 led me to retire my iPhone 11 last year and happily replace it with the OnePlus 11. So far, I have loved the OnePlus 11, and I use it for everything from writing quick Threads to shooting photos and videos. The OP 11 has never let me down. The only thing I don’t use it for is FaceTime, because, despite Apple making it possible to use Facetime on Android, it’s garbage.

FaceTime is the dark fiery soul-devouring demoness that keeps my iPhone 11’s heartbeat pumping and battery charged. Why? Simply because my 13-year-old and several of my other family members refuse to use anything else for video chatting, as if WhatsApp, Google Meet, and a dozen other apps don’t exist!

However, brand loyalist be damned, I am super excited and am considering purchasing the upcoming OnePlus 12, or maybe the OnePlus Fold, which will soon arrive. Apple is still sitting out the foldable party, and I may want to rub that in my associate’s faces as they sit stuck in one display hell! Muhahaha! Although, as we have seen with the Google Fold, foldables can be fragile. I possess skull-mashing, scarred-up muscle hands that can sometimes be a little clumsy. Oopsies be damned! I will still try out the OnePlus Fold (if that is, in fact, its name) and see how it holds up. 

Rumors have it that it will arrive with some pretty awesome specs that include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and the inner foldable display is expected to be a massive 7.8-inch AMOLED with 2K resolution. The external screen is expected to be a 6.3-inch AMOLED. Both will feature a 120Hz refresh rate to keep things looking silky smooth. However, I will use it only until the true apple of my eye arrives.

The OnePlus 12

We recently covered the leaked OnePlus 12 renders, and it was love at first sight. It shares most of its styling with the OP 11, but on the back, within its refined circular camera module, we find what looks to be a periscope camera. Also, the rumor is that OnePlus is leveling up its camera game and sensors. With that Hasselblad fine-tuning, I had several wonderful dreams last night of just wandering about shooting photos and videos all day with it. 

Also, Oxygen OS is my absolute favorite Android skin ever, as it runs smoothly, looks beautiful, and isn’t overpowering. This is the one reason I reject Samsung phones in every form. Samsung makes amazing phones, but the company’s Android skin is just littered with Samsung bloatware.

The OP 12 is rumored to arrive with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Chipset, the latest Adreno 750 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and possibly up to 1TB of storage. It will feature a 6.7-inch QHD+ OLED with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a fast charging 5,000mAh battery. The camera module will have a 50MP IMX9-series main camera sensor, a 50MP wide-angle lens, and a 64MP Omnivision OV64B periscope lens. Don’t you love it when a tech maker actually levels things up. 

Lastly, what excites me most is the price point. OnePlus made its name as the “flagship killer” brand and is earning that reputation again, giving an affordable phone with flagship specs and performance. They achieve this by using elfin magic or pacts with elder gods. Who knows how they do it? I’m glad they do, so I expect the OnePlus 12 to come in under $1,000 again. Meanwhile, rumors have it that the new iPhone 15 will increase in price, and I have no more blood to let or limbs to hawk on the black market.