OnePlus admits mistake, says no more 5G bands for OnePlus 9 in future

The OnePlus 9 series started its journey in India with a peak of hype around its cameras. At the same time, OnePlus was proud to confirm 5G support for all the models, even though 5G is yet to arrive in the country. However, curious eyes quickly caught the lack of major 5G bands and OnePlus replied with a promise to add more in future updates. Sadly, that’s no more the case.

OnePlus has now confirmed on Twitter that the OnePlus 9 won’t get support for any additional 5G bands in the future. This is opposed to the promise that the brand made during the launch of the OnePlus 9 series earlier this year. OnePlus states the limitation of hardware for this, stating that it cannot be fixed via a software update. The phone currently supports two 5G bands in the country.

OnePlus 9 to not get more 5G bands support

The OnePlus 9 in the US comes with support for multiple 5G bands as opposed to the two in India. The US model supports N1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 25, 28, 38, 40, 41, 48, 66, 71, 77, and 78 bands while the Indian model only gets N41 and N78. The same stands for the more expensive OnePlus 9 Pro. Not that it matters at the moment but whenever 5G goes live in India, OnePlus 9 users will be at the mercy of the network operators.

Hi Mukul! We sincerely apologize for the miscommunication and we would like to inform you that due to hardware limitation the device only supports 2 Bands and it can not be fixed via OTA. We have also shared feedback with the relevant team. https://t.co/Y6rHuMwu8J

— OnePlus Support (@OnePlus_Support) May 11, 2021

What’s weird is that OnePlus initially flagged it as an issue that can be fixed via the software update and now denying the same. This is misleading for those who purchased the device keeping future-proofing the phone with 5G. The latest revelation also hints at OnePlus using a cheaper modem to cut costs in comparison to the US model.

The Indian OnePlus 9 also lacks support for wireless charging, something which the US model gets as standard. The rest of the package, save for the 5G bands, is kept the same. The OnePlus 9 is currently the most affordable OnePlus device using the Snapdragon 888 chip.

Should you buy the OnePlus 9 now, given the recent revelations and the availability fo cheaper alternatives? For almost Rs 10,000 lesser, you can get the same levels of performance and equally good (if not better) camera performance with the iQOO 7 Legend and Xiaomi Mi 11X Pro.