Does the OnePlus 5 have Micro SD?

Does the new 2017 OnePlus 5 have removable storage? Sadly, the answer is no — the OnePlus 5 does not have a Micro SD slot, so you can’t just add a Micro SD memory card to add more storage space to your phone.

However, there are some alternative solutions — take a look!

Alternative #1: a USB-C Flash Drive

However, with a USB-C Flash Drive, you can at least load up your phone with movies for a long flight, or quickly copy photos and videos off of your OnePlus 5. This example from Sandisk provides 32GB of rapid USB-C storage, allowing for dozens of hours of Full HD video, or thousands of songs or pictures. It also has a full-size USB end, allowing you to plug it into a standard desktop or laptop computer.

Alternative #2: A USB-C to USB-A adapter

If you have plenty of full-size USB drives lying around, you could also pick up an inexpensive USB-C to full-size USB adapter, then plug in the USB drive.

Alternative #3: Go it alone

If you don’t go for either of these options, you’ll be limited to what’s on board. If you plan on keeping a lot of apps and games installed, or taking lots of high definition videos, you might consider choosing the more expensive OnePlus 5 model with 128GB of storage, making use of cloud storage solutions like Dropbox and Google Drive, or frequently backing up photos, videos and other media to your PC using a USB-C cable.

If Micro SD card storage is a must-have for you, then you might consider another smartphone. Motorola’s Z Play, G5 and G5 Plus are excellent smartphones that cost far less than the OP5, and both have Micro SD storage. If you’re willing to pay more, the HTC U11, LG G6 and Galaxy S8 all have Micro SD card slots too.

You can see our most highly recommended Micro SD cards for the Galaxy S8, LG G6 and HTC U11 right here, or learn more about Micro SD cards in general in our latest Micro SD guide.

Why does the OnePlus 5 not have Micro SD storage?

Well, there are plenty of reasons. Firstly, including Micro SD requires several design and monetary costs: paying a license fee, making space for the slot and additional development time to make sure it works well with the OS and built in apps. In addition, slow Micro SD cards can lead to sluggish devices, which may result in reduced confidence in OnePlus. Perhaps most importantly, the lack of Micro SD storage incentivises users to go for the larger 128GB model, which provides a higher per-unit profit for OnePlus.

Wrapping up

What do you think of OnePlus’ decision to not include Micro SD in their latest phone? Let us know in the comments below, or write to us on Twitter @mobilefun.