Make OnePlus’s best-of-the-best photo list, and you may get to review the OnePlus 5

Why it matters to you

The more smartphone manufacturers listen to our needs, the better future products will be. Also, who doesn’t want to be first to try out new stuff?

Do you consider yourself an awesome smartphone photographer? If so, and you have a strong collection of beautiful pictures on Instagram, now is the time to show them off to OnePlus. The company has set up a competition called The Lab, where it invites you to submit your best photographic work for judging; and in return, you may get chosen to review the OnePlus 5.

OnePlus’s motivation, as with a lot of its promotions, is to make sure its forthcoming phone meets the expectations and requirements of those actually using it. Here, it wants the best smartphone photographers out there to test out the OnePlus 5’s camera and provide feedback, so it can refine the feature further.

How do you get involved? It’s easy. OnePlus says to follow the @Oneplustech Instagram account, and then visit this webpage to submit your best photos featured on your personal Instagram account, which have been shot with a smartphone. After careful consideration by the OnePlus design team, the submissions will be whittled down to 10 entries, and each of those will be given a OnePlus 5 to test out as a member of The Lab.

We know the OnePlus 5 is coming, and there have been plenty of rumors about it, but we’re still not quite sure what camera it will use. It’s possible the phone will have a dual-lens camera, like the iPhone 7 Plus, the Huawei P10, and the LG G6. This type of feature is popular at the moment, for generating the blurred bokeh effect, or in the case of the G6, for taking amazing wide-angle shots.

OnePlus has been steadily improving the camera on its smartphones, and the OnePlus 3T’s 16-megapixel rear camera is capable of taking some beautiful shots, which we highlighted in our recent review update. If you want a chance to join The Lab, and test out the OnePlus 5, we’d suggest submitting your photos very soon. There have already been more than 6,500 applications at the time of writing, and OnePlus isn’t saying when it’ll close the competition.