MANILA -- China's OnePlus on Monday unveiled an upgraded version of its 2018 flagship with improved low light cameras and an in-display fingerprint sensor, adding to the barrage of consumer tech releases this month.

Compared to the OnePlus 6, the OnePlus 6T has a bigger battery at 3,700 mAh and a 6.4-inch screen with a smaller cutout for the front camera. It runs on Android 9 Pie, a Snapdragon 845 chip with up to 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage.

Since the OnePlus 3 in 2016, the Shenzhen-based company has released an updated T version later in the year with mostly upgraded internals.

The OnePlus 6T was unveiled on the eve of an Apple event in the US, where the iPhone-maker is tipped to unveil new iPad tablets and Mac computers.

Other Chinese tech giants released their own flagships earlier in October, including Xiaomi's Mi Mix 3 and Huawei's Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro and Mate 20 X.

STATESIDE DEBUT

For the first time, OnePlus will be available in the US through a carrier, T-Mobile. The OnePlus 6T was launched in New York on Monday with no questions from regulators.

The foray by 5-year-old Shenzhen-based OnePlus comes after US mobile carriers AT&T and Verizon this year backed away from plans to work with Huawei on high-end phones on security concerns. Huawei has denied the charge.

The United States also briefly banned companies from selling goods to ZTE , which was caught shipping US technology to Iran and North Korea, violating US sanctions.

The OnePlus alliance, announced at an event on Monday in New York, shows how many US-China business relationships, including those involving the most advanced technologies, are marching ahead despite the escalating US China trade war.

T-Mobile said the OnePlus 6T smart phone would launch exclusively at the carrier's stores on Nov. 1 with a starting price of $549, the first time a OnePlus handset has been sold through a US wireless provider.

While some OnePlus models have been on sale in the United States through e-commerce websites, carrier relationships like the one with T-Mobile are critical because most US consumers still purchase phones through their carriers.

"I don't know if it is a good time for anybody else," Carl Pei, the 29-year-old founder of OnePlus, said of the prospect of entering the US.carrier-bundled phone market during an interview with Reuters at an event in Hong Kong last week. "It is a good time for us."

In an interview on Monday, Jon Freier, T-mobile's executive vice president of US retail, said the US-China trade battle played no role in this deal and the carrier has not heard from US regulators. "OnePlus has a sterling reputation, and we've researched the device and vetted it thoroughly," Freier said.

Xiaomi, a Chinese rival that also focuses on feature-packed phones at bargain prices, has said it plans to launch in the United States next year but did not respond to a request for comment on whether those plans are still in place.

OnePlus is unusual among Chinese tech companies, which typically focus on mass-market products for domestic customers. OnePlus, by contrast, only sells premium phones that cost $400 or more and almost exclusively online except in India. It derives two-thirds of its revenue from outside China and is the top seller of premium smartphones in India.

OnePlus is affiliated with OPPO, a Chinese smartphone-maker and a major force in mid-end phones, which are sold globally and cost about $300. The relationship helps OnePlus keep its costs low, said Canalys analyst Mo Jia.

According to Chinese company registration records, the two companies have common shareholders.

Pei shrugged off any concerns that US consumer sentiment would be affected by the China-US trade conflict. "At the end of the day, all you can control is your own."

Pei, who was born in China and raised in Sweden, said the brand is cross-cultural and international: "When we started, we saw that through social media, you can talk to everyone around the world, as long as you can speak their language."

"If OnePlus is an independent actor and not under the thumb of the Chinese communist party, we should welcome them to compete in the US market," Senator Warner said. "But we need to make sure they are that independent actor and cannot be leveraged by the Chinese government to hurt our national security."

-- with reports from Reuters in New York and Hong Kong