OnePlus is building a new smartphone, but it’s not going to be the successor to its OnePlus 3 device. Instead, this new handset is reportedly a “hardware refresh” of the company’s latest flagship. It could be marketed as OnePlus 3S or OnePlus 3 Plus.

According to GSM Arena, a recent report from Gizmo China claims that since OnePlus is currently faced with a shortage in components needed to make its OnePlus 3 devices, the company is looking into putting a temporary stop to the production of its latest flagship device.

While production of the OnePlus 3 will go on hiatus, however, OnePlus is said to be gearing up to manufacture a hardware refresh that would be released to the public soon. Details about the release of the new smartphone are still unavailable at this point.

Meanwhile, since the component that is preventing OnePlus from creating more OnePlus 3 units is the AMOLED panel, the company is said to be using LCD panels for its new mobile phone, which could arrive in the market either as OnePlus 3S or the recently rumored OnePlus 3 Plus.

Aside from the switch to LCD from AMOLED, OnePlus is also rumored to be favoring the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chip for the upcoming device instead of the Snapdragon 820 CPU that came with OnePlus 3. Other specs and features, on the other hand, are likely to be retained.

Just this Monday, PhoneArena reported that analyst Pan Jiutang has hinted about an upcoming OnePlus smartphone that could be called the OnePlus 3 Plus. The phone-centric site quickly jumped to the conclusion that the handset could be sporting a large 6-inch display because of the addition of “Plus” into its name.

With the emergence of Gizmo China’s report, however, it is possible that the rumored OnePlus 3 Plus could keep the 5.5-inch display found on the OnePlus 3 and the “Plus” could just be an indication of the upgraded processor for the device. Then, there's also the possibility that the device could be marketed using the OnePlus 3S name instead. In this case, it wouldn't be that hard to tell why the "S" was added to the handset's moniker.

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