OnePlus’ rumored mini flagship could be the final nail in the coffin for small Android phones
- A new rumor suggests that Oppo could release an upcoming mini flagship to the global market via OnePlus
- The so-called OnePlus 13 Mini would have a 6.31-inch display; that’s larger than a standard iPhone 16
- Neither Oppo nor OnePlus have confirmed the existence of the phone
Oppo has firmly re-established itself in global markets following the launch of the Find
According to a Weibo post from the well-known Digital Chat Station (via Smartprix), the Oppo Find X8 and X8 Pro will be joined by the rumored X8 Ultra and
The tip also suggests that the X8 Mini may be rebadged and released in the global market as the OnePlus 13 Mini or OnePlus 13T. Because OnePlus operates under the same parent company as Oppo, it regularly releases phones with borrowed designs or specifications from existing Oppo models.
Digital Chat Station also provided a speculative specs list for the supposedly upcoming OnePlus phone, listing several features such as a 6.31-inch display with 1.5k resolution, a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, and a triple camera system with a 50 MP main camera. an 8MP ultra-wide camera and a 50MP telephoto camera with 3x zoom (you’ll find two of those cameras on the full-size Oppo Find X8).
A 6.31-inch screen would position the OnePlus 13 Mini beyond what’s typically considered a small phone, and this name is likely relative to the 6.59-inch screen found on Oppo’s latest flagship.
The OnePlus 13 launched on January 7 at a price of $899/£899, which, as our OnePlus 13 review notes, offers good value for money. A cheaper mini version would have a good chance of being the cheapest Snapdragon 8 Elite-equipped phone on the market, depending on OnePlus’ pricing strategy.
Does ‘small’ mean anything anymore?
Since the standardization of large phones – formerly known as phablets – mini phones have failed to catch on in the West. Apple famously discontinued its small handsets after just two years when the iPhone 13 mini was replaced by the iPhone 14 Plus in September 2022.
In other markets, regional phone makers like Vivo continue to produce mini phones, although the goalposts seem to shift quite easily when it comes to what counts as a small phone in 2025.
Measuring 6.31 inches, the Find X8 Mini and OnePlus 13 Mini will launch with larger screens than both the standard iPhone 16 and the baseline Samsung Galaxy S24. That’s not exactly small by most people’s standards, and it makes me wonder if the days of small Android phones might be over.
Displays are no longer getting bigger at the breakneck pace of the 2010s, but it’s still a noticeable trend. As it stands, the 6.1-inch iPhone 16 is about as small as you can get in a mainstream, flagship, and full-featured smartphone, but if Apple continues to filter down the specs of its Pro and Pro Max iPhones to the standard models we could see this increase to 6.3 inches, in line with the iPhone 16 Pro, over the next few generations.
I’ve written before about my nostalgia for really small phones, but at this point it’s encouraging to see a phone manufacturer taking even a small step back from making things even bigger.
With the latest premium flagships from Apple, Google and Samsung all approaching 7-inch screen sizes, it’s not a bad thing to hear that there’s a new phone that might make things a little more sensible – even if the OnePlus 13 Mini portends the end small Android phones as we once knew them.
So who knows – maybe in ten years I’ll be writing about my nostalgia for the OnePlus 13 Mini and its small display. Until then, it’s fine to hold the line, and the Mini title feels pretty earned for any phone that does that.
Neither Oppo nor OnePlus have shared any official information about the X8 Mini or OnePlus 13 Mini. For the latest updates as we hear them, be sure to check out our coverage of Oppo phones and OnePlus phones.