- OnePlus will no longer be equipped with its phones with the iconic alarm slider contact
- Future OnePlus phones have an iPhone style customized button
- The button offers the same functionality as the alarm slider plus new features
OnePlus replaces the iconic alarm shooter found on most of its premiere phones with an Apple style customizable button, according to a new statement from the company’s CEO.
In a post to the OnePlus Community Forum, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau confirmed that the alarm shooter would be replaced because of the limited functionality offered by the three-position shooter.
This means that the sequels to OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R are likely to lack one of the brand’s most iconic features.
Lau gave few details of the Alert-Skyder’s successor, only that it would offer more functionality than the current three-position switch, and that it would be possible to switch between audio profiles without unlocking the phone.
In fact, the post implies that LAU personally insisted that the new button should be able to offer the same functionality as the outgoing alarm shooter, as well as new and expanded features that have not yet been revealed.
Generally, this new OnePlus button theoretically sounds like Apple’s action button, first seen with the release of the iPhone 15 Pro -so we can look at iPhone to make some trained guesses about the new button’s potential options.
The action button found on the iPhone can be assigned a long list of features, including turning on and off the flashlight, opening the camera, activating a shortcut or switching.
OnePlus takes pretty liberal inspiration from Apple when it comes to software – there is a simulated dynamic island on the latest OnePlus 13 interface, for example – so I wouldn’t be surprised to see anything like it from the company’s future handset.
LAU’s submissions mention that backlash to OnePlus 10T, launched by 2022 Sans Alert Slider, inspired internal debate about the future of the iconic hardware feature and that the slider removal allows for better use of the internal spaces of the devices. OnePlus has not yet announced the first product that contains the new button.
The end of an era
OnePlus is the last remaining large telephone manufacturer to fit his handsets with a physically ringing -switch – however, as this news entails, not for much longer.
I’ve always found that Ringer Switch is attached to OnePlus phones to be a useful addition – other features are easy enough to find in UI or on the lock screen and it’s great to be able to switch my phone to silent mode without once looking at the display when I take a break.
Perhaps more importantly, the character that the alarm slider brings to OnePlus phones -it’s a unique feature that made the best OnePlus phones stand out in a field with ever more homogeneous telephone design that gives as much personality as the tool.
When I ran the OnePlus Open daily, I used the slider every day and I still use it when testing a OnePlus or Oppo phone (Oppo and OnePlus are related companies under the same umbrella parent). Tactility is a rare and underrated thing in modern phone design, so I will be really sad to see the alarm shooter go.
What do you think of this decision? Should the OnePlus have kept the alarm slider as it is? Tell us that in the comments.
