OnePlus Ace 5 Pro tipped to be the cheapest Snapdragon 8 Elite flagship phone

OnePlus was among the first companies to introduce a Snapdragon 8 Elite flagship phone, the OnePlus 13. Coming with a handful of upgrades, it saw a price bump compared to its predecessor. However, the company is said to be working on another device that will feature the same SoC but have a more affordable price tag.

More specifically, reliable tipster Digital Chat Station reported that the OnePlus Ace 5 Pro is on the way, and it will compete to be the cheapest Snapdragon 8 Elite flagship. At the moment, the Realme GT 7 Pro is the most affordable flagship smartphone with the chipset, coming in with a starting price of CNY 3,599 (about $506).

The Realme flagship has also been confirmed to be the first next-gen smartphone with the new Qualcomm SoC to step outside China. As for the OnePlus Ace 3 Pro, even if it ends up being cheaper than the GT 7 Pro, there's a slim chance of it launching outside China.

To fill you in, the Ace lineup is exclusive to the Chinese market. Of course, OnePlus did bring smartphones within this series to the global market with a different name, but the past two Pro models didn't make it outside China. However, the case won't be the same for the non-Pro model. It could launch as the OnePlus 13R.

As Digital Chat Station recently reported, the non-Pro Ace 5 will be a sub-flagship. It will be a successor to the Ace 3, also known as the OnePlus 12R in the international market (256 GB curr. $529.99 on Amazon), but with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 instead of the 8 Elite.