Apple Jan. 27 launch event... what will it be?

[BigFatMeanie]

It's not like it matters at this point given the fact OnePlus is bailing and the lack of deals with carriers, but the S26 Ultra has a 5000 mAh battery vs the OnePlus 15 having a 7300 mAh. Battery is the biggest factor for me.

I'm not sure how to compare the prices outright given whatever deals can be had with carriers. If someone just walked into Best Buy and bought an S26 Ultra, unlocked, it would be $1,300. That has 256GB. The cheapest OnePlus 15 (well, the only OnePlus 15) has 512 GB and is $900. Both phones share the best cellphone CPU -- Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

If someone waits a year after the release of a OnePlus, you get a steep discount. The $900 phone may be something like $600. I bought the OnePlus 12 a year after release back around Thanksgiving 2024.

Samsungs used to be horrible if you were on an MVNO, you didn't have a carrier to send you an update. My last Samsung phone was the last Note they made before the model that started blowing up. It was seemingly impossible to update the phone. That's why I went over to Pixel, because Google was updating their phones like Apple. I assume Samsung now sends updates independent of the carriers (I hope).

I will say I've had a couple really bad OnePlus updates that have caused battery drain. The first time was last year and then a subsequent update got rid of it. The current update is also terrible. It's the best phone around with a good update and crap on a bad one.

My hope is Google tosses out the PoS Tensor chips and puts in a nice battery. I have hope for a proper battery but they're probably not getting rid of their chips any time soon. Truthfully, I can get past the Google CPUs just fine, just get a decent battery.

Dude, what are you doing on your phone that requires a 7000mAh battery? My iPhone 16e only has a 4000mAh battery and I don’t ever worry about low battery. I charge it at night and it lasts the whole day.

If you’re running low on a 5000mAh battery you’re probably watching too much porn on your phone.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Mrs. Diddley had OnePlus a couple of times back when I was first using Samsung. Not sure if they've gotten better, but my Samsung was always better than what she had.

It was always dumb to have to disable stupid Bixby along with some other features, but overall I've been happy. I've used the S23 ultra for a few years and just made the jump to the S26 Ultra only because the trade in made it cheap.

I also got the latest ear buds at a steep discount and I am really impressed with the sound quality.

We used MVNo's for a while, but I have a pretty sweet deal with T-Mobile on a military business plan.

It's not like it matters at this point given the fact OnePlus is bailing and the lack of deals with carriers, but the S26 Ultra has a 5000 mAh battery vs the OnePlus 15 having a 7300 mAh. Battery is the biggest factor for me.

I'm not sure how to compare the prices outright given whatever deals can be had with carriers. If someone just walked into Best Buy and bought an S26 Ultra, unlocked, it would be $1,300. That has 256GB. The cheapest OnePlus 15 (well, the only OnePlus 15) has 512 GB and is $900. Both phones share the best cellphone CPU -- Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

If someone waits a year after the release of a OnePlus, you get a steep discount. The $900 phone may be something like $600. I bought the OnePlus 12 a year after release back around Thanksgiving 2024.

Samsungs used to be horrible if you were on an MVNO, you didn't have a carrier to send you an update. My last Samsung phone was the last Note they made before the model that started blowing up. It was seemingly impossible to update the phone. That's why I went over to Pixel, because Google was updating their phones like Apple. I assume Samsung now sends updates independent of the carriers (I hope).

I will say I've had a couple really bad OnePlus updates that have caused battery drain. The first time was last year and then a subsequent update got rid of it. The current update is also terrible. It's the best phone around with a good update and crap on a bad one.

My hope is Google tosses out the PoS Tensor chips and puts in a nice battery. I have hope for a proper battery but they're probably not getting rid of their chips any time soon. Truthfully, I can get past the Google CPUs just fine, just get a decent battery.

[Bo Diddley]

I feel like I need Google Translate to understand this.

I got you. I'll translate into Apple:

"I upgraded from one rectangle to a slightly newer rectangle, it still makes calls, and now my headphones sound fancy."

[Copelius]

I'm in the S23 Ultra still and not too many complaints. However, as far as alternates to Samsung and Google, my son loves his Motorola. I also went from MVNO to Tmobile, because of the military plan back then was much better. One cannot get a similar plan anymore so we just stick with what we have.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Mrs. Diddley had OnePlus a couple of times back when I was first using Samsung. Not sure if they've gotten better, but my Samsung was always better than what she had.

It was always dumb to have to disable stupid Bixby along with some other features, but overall I've been happy. I've used the S23 ultra for a few years and just made the jump to the S26 Ultra only because the trade in made it cheap.

I also got the latest ear buds at a steep discount and I am really impressed with the sound quality.

We used MVNo's for a while, but I have a pretty sweet deal with T-Mobile on a military business plan.

I feel like I need Google Translate to understand this.

[Bo Diddley]

Mrs. Diddley had OnePlus a couple of times back when I was first using Samsung. Not sure if they've gotten better, but my Samsung was always better than what she had.

It was always dumb to have to disable stupid Bixby along with some other features, but overall I've been happy. I've used the S23 ultra for a few years and just made the jump to the S26 Ultra only because the trade in made it cheap.

I also got the latest ear buds at a steep discount and I am really impressed with the sound quality.

We used MVNo's for a while, but I have a pretty sweet deal with T-Mobile on a military business plan.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

This seems like the most relevant thread for this, even though it only indirectly deals with Apple. It seems like OnePlus is about to leave the US. I'm not sure if anyone has ever bought one of these phones, some of you have maybe never even heard of the company.

For the last ten years, I've bought my phones outright and used an MVN0 that piggybacks off of Verizon. Basically that's how everyone outside the US does it. It's saved me easily thousands of dollars, possibly even $10k at this point.

My wife just has an iPhone. I loath Apple on the other hand (variety of reasons). With Samsung the biggest player in the Android space, Samsung, has crappy bloatware and questionable battery longevity. I don't like them.

Pixel phones have the best operating system of any phone along with excellent cameras. But current Pixel phones have these terrible proprietary cpus. Before they started putting in Tensor chips, I had my personal favorite phone ever, the Pixel 2XL. Great battery, great OS, didn't have the crappy Tensor. I also had the last pre-Tensor Pixel with a great battery. But the last 4 years or so of Pixel entered into the current era of bad cpus and questionable batteries. Google has been mired in the 4% market share slum for years. They have a huge opening -- come out with a phone using Qualcomm and put in a robust battery. That's all they need to do IMO. Their OS and camera/photo software are already great. But year after year it's the same story, the Pixel has a critical flaw or two.

This is where OnePlus has come in and it illustrates how important two things are in the US cellphone market -- having ties with the carriers and spending some money on marketing. OnePlus phones have a massively better OS than Samsung. Their top end phone uses the latest Qualcomm chip. Their battery capacity blows other Androids away. Their flagship is massively cheaper than top Pixels and Samsungs. Their midrange is also the best in class in Android and also cheaper.

The problem is they have no relationship with the carriers. They also put very little into marketing. The only reason I even knew about the phone is because reviewers often rave about different iterations of OnePlus phones. I have a OnePlus 12. It's my second favorite after the Pixel 2XL I used for three years. The OnePlus 13 is even better.

Oneplus is reportedly about to bail out of NA and the EU. So US Android users will be stuck with Samsung (and Pixel to a far lesser extent).

[Moliere]

Call me crazy, but I kind of dig the new liquid glass. I was expecting to hate it.

I tend to agree with this. Maybe my expectations were too low based on what I’d heard online

[Pelado]

You better get yourself one of these as well:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/...-carry-iphone/

Only $229.95!!

What a bargain!

[BigFatMeanie]

You better get yourself one of these as well:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/...-carry-iphone/

Only $229.95!!

[Jeff Lebowski]

Call me crazy, but I kind of dig the new liquid glass. I was expecting to hate it.

[chrisrenrut]

I don’t love this Liquid Glass update. Thumbs down emoji.

It feels a lot like that Windows Vista update from ~2008, with all the transparent graphics.

[Clark Addison]

I don’t hate it but it seems really gimmicky and doesn’t add as real benefit that I can tell. It doesn’t make things cleaner, clearer, or easier to use.

I expect it will see some major changes over the next few updates to make it look more “normal”

[falafel]

I don’t love this Liquid Glass update. Thumbs down emoji.

I bought a new ipad that apparently has this, but I don't know what it is. So thumbs to the side emoji.

[YOhio]

I don’t love this Liquid Glass update. Thumbs down emoji.