OnePlus has confirmed that it is getting rid of arguably the most distinctive design feature of its smartphones.
Last month a rumour emerged claiming that OnePlus was set to follow Apple’s lead and replace its signature alert slider with a customisable button.
Now company co-founder and CEO Pete Lau has issued a blog post confirming the news.
What are OnePlus’s plans for the alert slider?
In a OnePlus Community post titled “Let’s talk about the Alert Slider”, Lau acknowledges that the Alert Slider has become a “symbol of thoughtful design” from the company, and is one of his personal favourite features.
However, Lau then admits to asking himself whether it could do more. “As iconic as it is, it is a huge piece of hardware just to switch sound profiles” notes Lau, not unreasonably.
Lau’s answer is to evolve the Alert Slider into a button that “adapts to you” and offers “a more personalised experience”. All of which sounds very much like it’ll be both customisable and multi-functional, à la the iPhone 16 and its Action button.
And yes, Lau confirms that this button will still be able to switch sound profiles without waking your phone. Just not with that satisfying physical clunk.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
What might this new OnePlus button be capable of?
Previous rumours have suggested that the new OnePlus button will be able to perform different tasks with a single press.
We know this will definitely include being able to mute the phone, but it could also be set to open the camera, switch on the flashlight, take a screenshot, or launch an app.
That’s it for details, official or otherwise. Presumably we’ll learn more with one of OnePlus’s next high-end phone, whether that’s the OnePlus 14 or the OnePlus 13T.
Also presumably, this brings to an end the Alert Slider experiment on Oppo phones. We appreciated its inclusion on the Oppo Find X8 Pro, but we wouldn’t expect it to make a return in the Oppo Find X9 Pro.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
Why the OnePlus Alert Slider is so beloved
There was considerable hoo-hah when OnePlus first tried omitting the Alert Slider with the OnePlus 10T in 2022. It was the first point in the ‘Con’ box for our review ahead of “No wireless charging” and “No IP rating”.
You see, while the Android field is packed full of phones of all shapes and sizes, they tend to get rather samey after a while. When a manufacturer doggedly sticks to a particular design decision even when its rivals do not, their phone’s tend to stand out from the pack.
Especially so when said design element has genuine value. The Honor Magic 7 Pro stands out for its secure facial recognition system, for example. And, yes, the OnePlus 13 still stands out for its Alert Slider (among other things).
We’ll be sorry to see that point of differentiation go. Of course, with a multi-functional and mappable button set to take its place, all hope is not lost.
But we suspect there’ll always be a little piece of us that pines for the tactile simplicity of OnePlus’s three-stage Alert Slider.
