OnePlus is rumored to be working on a brand-new flagship smartphone that could address a major pain point for many users, the battery life, by developing a smartphone that comes with an absolutely massive 7,800mAh capacity battery. Now, there have been phones with batteries this big before. However, they’re almost entirely limited to phones that are marketed at people who work in the field, like construction workers, and really never at everyday consumers. We also see batteries of this size in tablets. However, it’s very clearly stated that this is a flagship smartphone, not a tablet. Which leads to several questions.

For one, how does OnePlus plan to stuff a battery of that size into a smartphone that isn’t super thick or huge? Does it even plan to keep the phone slim like the OnePlus 13 series? These questions may be answered in time. However, it’s also worth remembering that this is still just a rumor, and OnePlus may not actually release such a device at all. Even after lots of R&D.

The new OnePlus phone will have a massive battery and a flagship chipset

The rumor, which comes from Digital Chat Station on Weibo (via Wccftech), is said to be a flagship smartphone. To that end, it would stand to reason that it should also have other flagship components. According to Digital Chat Station, this phone does come with flagship components. At least one flagship component that we know of – the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.

OnePlus used the Snapdragon 8 Elite in the OnePlus 13, so it already has a device available that carries this beast of a chipset. It’s also available in the OnePlus 13T. This is important because the OnePlus 13T is a powerhouse device, but it also comes with a larger battery. Larger than the one inside the OnePlus 13. Therein lies some of the mystery in what OnePlus plans to do to fit a 7,800mAh battery inside a phone that retains the same size and slim profile.

For comparison, the OnePlus 13T battery is 6,260mAh. OnePlus also made the screen slightly smaller at 6.32 inches. So not only did it squeeze a larger battery in, it did so while making the phone panel smaller.

OnePlus could be using silicon-carbon technology again to enlarge the battery

The big trick to OnePlus being able to fit the bigger battery inside the OnePlus 13T is the silicon-carbon tech it used. There were almost certainly other factors involved. For example, OnePlus likely shifted the location of some of the components. It’s possible, then, that OnePlus could be planning to do the same thing here with this unannounced device.

How exactly it’ll make things work is still unclear. That being said, it wouldn’t be the first time a company that makes electronics has done some black magic engineering to make components fit in a smaller space. No other details about specs were given, but perhaps we’ll hear more about this device in the near future.