Alert slider is dead! OnePus 13s to debut in India with Apple-like customizable ‘Plus Key’ | Mint-OxBig News Network

After announcing the removal of the alert slider on its phones earlier this year, OnePlus has officially confirmed that the OnePlus 13s will be the first phone in India to debut without the iconic feature, and will instead feature a ‘Plus’ button that can be customised for various tasks.

Notably, the alert slider was a physical metal slider that was present on almost all OnePlus devices except the Nord series and allowed users to quickly turn their phones to silent, ring or vibrate.

With the new Plus key, OnePlus says that users will be able to change sound profiles, click screenshots, record audio, turn on flash and take screenshots, among other things. Remember that Apple first introduced a similar action button with its iPhone 15 Pro lineup in 2023, and later added it to the entire iPhone 16 series last year.

While some smartphone brands like Nothing and Lava have added a similar feature to their mid-range offerings, OnePlus could be the first Chinese company to bring this feature to one of its flagship devices.

OnePlus 13s specifications:

With the OnePlus 13s, OnePlus wants to tap into the newfound appetite among the masses for a compact phone. If leaks are to be believed, the OnePlus 13s is likely to be an India-exclusive version and will not be released in other countries. The 13s is said to be a rebranded version of the OnePlus 13T, which was launched in China a few weeks ago.

OnePlus has confirmed that the new phone will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, the same SoC that powers its flagship OnePlus 13. Meanwhile, the company has also shown off the phone in two colour variants: Black and Pink.

In terms of what else we can expect from the OnePlus 13s, we will invariably have to look to the OnePlus 13T for inspiration.

OnePlus 13T features a 6.32-inch 1.5K 8T LTPO AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 1600 nits of peak brightness. The smaller form factor means that the phone weighs just around 185 grams despite having a thickness of 8.15mm.

Unlike the OnePlus 13, the 13T comes with an optical fingerprint sensor and is only IP65 water and dust resistant, meaning it isn’t technically waterproof but can sustain some splashes of water.

Akin to its elder sibling, the OnePlus 13T also comes with the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor paired with the Adreno 830 GPU. It packs support for 12/16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage.

The Chinese variant of the phone runs on ColorOS 15 based on Android 15, but the global model should continue to run on OxygenOS 15.

As for optics, the phone comes with a dual-camera setup featuring a 50MP Sony IMX906 primary shooter with OIS and a 50MP 2x telephoto lens, which also supports OIS unlike the OnePlus 13R. On the front is a 16MP shooter that can record videos in up to 1080p at 30fps. The 13T even outshines the OnePlus 13 in the battery department, packing a 6,260mAh setup, although with a slower 80W wired fast charging.