Want a OnePlus 5 Before Anyone Else? Enter The Company's Photo Contest

OnePlus will be giving away the OnePlus 5 to 10 skilled winners of the company’s smartphone photography contest. The winners will get the chance to be part of OnePlus’s review team, called The Lab, to crowdsource feedback on the OP 5’s camera performance.

“For many people, smartphones are their go-to daily camera. With the right technology in their hands, users can take mobile photography to new heights,” OnePlus said. “We want to bring a device that's truly tailored and perfected for photography lovers. That's why we're looking for voices from the mobile photographer community to hear and learn from.”

To join the contest, first, users must follow the Instagram account @oneplustech and fill out the form. An Instagram account is required to take part in this contest.

The form will ask participants for basic information like name, email, phone number and address. This is also where contestants will submit three pictures from their Instagram accounts by copy-pasting the Instagram posts’ URL. Photos submitted must all be taken with a smartphone.

The OnePlus design team will select and get in contact with the final 10. The company said the 10 reviewers will receive their OnePlus 5s after the selection process. They then can start their activities with The Lab.

“The Lab harnesses the power of our community to crowdsource feedback on our work,” OnePlus said. “This time around, we’re asking photo enthusiasts to show us their best mobile photography in exchange for the chance to go hands-on with our next device.”

OnePlus has already begun teasing the OnePlus 5 in its latest posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The company confirmed two weeks ago it was working alongside DxO to improve the photography experience of the upcoming device.

DxO is mostly known for creating the DxOMark standard for scoring camera quality on smartphones. The device with the highest DxOMark score at the moment is the HTC U11 with 90, followed by Google’s Pixel phone with a score of 89.

Yesterday, the Chinese phone-maker once again teased the OnePlus 5’s camera performance by posting a comparison between two photos. The photo on the right appears to be the better photo and is presumed to have been taken with the OnePlus 5 camera.

There are plenty of rumors and speculation surrounding the camera on the upcoming handset. The most popular and prevalent is the OnePlus 5 will feature dual cameras on its back. We’ve already seen several renders and alleged leaks of the handset showing a vertically placed dual-camera setup, but OnePlus hasn’t confirmed nor denied any of it.

What we do know for certain is that the OnePlus 5 will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor, the same chipset that’s on Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau may also have let slip last week that the upcoming device will feature a front-facing fingerprint sensor. This has led to speculation the OnePlus 5 might arrive with a design that’s similar with the OnePlus 3/3T.

As for a release date, a leaked image of what appears to be an internal email shows the OnePlus 5 might launch on June 15. It’s being speculated this might be part of the company’s marketing strategy, BGR said.