First OnePlus 16 hands-on videos showcase "interstellar lighting effects" and thin bezels

The OnePlus 16 has been officially unveiled, and it's expected to be among the first phones in China to launch with the next-gen flagship Snapdragon SoC. Right after the initial announcement, hands-on videos of the phone have begun to surface, and some have showcased the built-in "interstellar lighting effects."

It's worth noting that OnePlus itself has confirmed that the built-in LEDs are only present on the "Tomorrow's Starlight" colorway, and the other two don't seem to have any exterior lighting. The LEDs appear to be divided into three sections, with two of them being on the bottom and one being on the top right, besides the camera island.

As the hands-on videos show, these LEDs light up the OnePlus 16 logo at the bottom left, the "Tomorrow's Starlight" coordinates at the bottom right, and the star symbol in the top-right section. There are other design elements on the back of this colorway, including a hidden Morse code message, but they don't appear to be backed by LED lights.

These don't appear to be RGB LED lights either. Instead, they are warm lights that match the overall aesthetics of the "Tomorrow's Starlight" colorway. The LEDs also appear to get bright enough to be noticeable in a fairly lit room.

In addition to showing the back, a couple of these hands-on videos have shown the front, and they reveal that the display of the OnePlus 16 will have fairly slim bezels. For reference, the last-gen flagship phone (12/256GB curr. $697.06 on TradingShenzen) had a 1.15mm bezel thickness, and it seems that the newer model has made it a bit thinner.

OnePlus has yet to share detailed specs, but the pre-order page has revealed that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro flagship phone can be maxed out with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. It's still unclear whether the device will see a wide global release as its predecessor, but more details about international availability are expected to emerge after the Chinese launch, which could happen within September 2026.