The most iconic OnePlus feature is being replaced with a new Apple-inspired 'smart' button
In a world where so many mobile devices look so incredibly similar, one smartphone vendor has managed to keep its unique brand identity intact with a design element that's somehow both unmistakable and inconspicuous. But because all good things must eventually come to an end, OnePlus is doing away with its widely celebrated Alert Slider to make room for a better button... allegedly.
What was only a rumor last month has just been confirmed by none other than the company's co-founder and CEO, Pete Lau, who seems to be trying especially hard to sell this undoubtedly controversial change as a step in the right direction from a user experience perspective.
The "new smart button" set to replace the old (and, evidently, "dumb") Alert Slider is described as "more powerful" than its predecessor, aiming to deliver a "more personalized experience" with a much wider range of supported functions and features. Yes, this "future-ready and incredibly intuitive" button will be customizable, sounding an awful lot like the Action Button Apple added to its top-of-the-line iPhones in the fall of 2023.
Of course, a similar concept doesn't have to translate into an identical execution, and knowing OnePlus, I expect a much more sophisticated implementation with more ways to customize its future phones' "actions" and a larger number of such actions accessible at the same time.
Also, after Apple released every single member of last year's iPhone 16 family (as well as this year's iPhone 16e) with an Action Button in tow, there's definitely a good chance that OnePlus will put its "smart button" on both high-end and mid-range devices soon.
How soon will the first such handset see daylight? Unfortunately, Pete Lau is not ready to confirm any timelines, but the Alert Slider's death sentence appears to be immediate, so I certainly wouldn't expect any additional phones with that "outdated" component to ever come out.
One thing that is guaranteed about the new button is that it will integrate its predecessor's functionality, merely aiming to expand on that and give users more options to control their phones without waking them up. In other words, all future OnePlus handsets will let their owners silence them "quickly and easily" while supporting additional features as well.
That does sound like a "change for the better"... in theory, but in practice, there are obviously a lot of things that could go wrong, tarnishing a brand reputation that's already suffered quite a bit in recent years in the eyes of many longtime OnePlus fans.
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