In April 2014, OnePlus entered the smartphone market with the OnePlus One which offered flagship specs for a price of just $299. It took the smartphone market by storm and year-by-year, OnePlus established itself as a brand offering flagship features at almost half the price of flagships from companies like Samsung or Apple.
But now, the story has changed as OnePlus is no longer a brand that makes flagship killers. Instead, it is a company that now makes true flagships. OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro are the newest offerings from OnePlus, and while the OnePlus 8 is priced at $699, the price of the ‘Pro’ starts at $899, making it the most expensive OnePlus phone till now.
ONEPLUS 8 – DESIGN & SPECIFICATIONS
If you compare the designs of OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 7 Pro of last year, you will hardly find any difference except for the punch-hole cutout and the newer colour options. It has the same design that includes a curved display on the front with minimal bezels all around, and a triple camera setup on the rear placed vertically. It is also no surprise that there is no headphone jack since OnePlus did away with the 3.5mm headphone jack with the OnePlus 6T.
Apart from the Green color, there is a new and unique ‘Interstellar Glow’ color option.
Talking about the specifications, the OnePlus 8 features a 6.55-inch Full-HD+ Fluid AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate & Corning Gorilla Glass 6 on top. The display is curved on the sides, so this also means the OnePlus 8 series is the first to not include any phone with a flat-screen.
Under the hood, there is Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G SOC paired with either 8GB or 12GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128/256GB UFS 3.0 storage.
The triple camera setup on the rear includes a primary 48 Megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor with OIS, EIS, f/1.75 aperture lens and 0.8-micron pixel size. There is a secondary 16 Megapixel ultrawide camera with 116-degree FOV and a 2 Megapixel Macro camera. On the front, there is a 16 Megapixel camera with IMX471 sensor.
Well, when it comes to the cameras, the OnePlus 8 seems more like a downgrade than an upgrade. That’s because while the OnePlus 7T had a telephoto lens as well, that’s missing on the OnePlus 8. The rear camera can shoot 4K 60fps videos.
Finally, there is a 4,300mAh battery inside and 30W Warp Charge 30T support. There is no Wireless Charging support for the OnePlus 8. OxygenOS based on Android 10 runs out of the box.
ONEPLUS 8 PRO – DESIGN & SPECIFICATIONS
The OnePlus 8 Pro is a true flagship from the company, but the design remains similar to the OnePlus 8 with just a couple of exceptions. It is bigger in size and has an extra camera on the rear. Since it is a Flagship, it has flagship features that include IP68 Dust and Water Resistant certification and Wireless Charging support, both of which are new for OnePlus device.
Lets’ talk about one of the main highlights of the phone – the cameras. It has a Quad camera setup on the rear, and the camera setup is inspired by the Oppo Find X2 Pro. Just like the Find X2 Pro, the OnePlus 8 Pro has dual 48 Megapixel cameras.
There is a primary 48 Megapixel camera with Sony IMX689 sensor and Optical Image Stabilization, paired with a 48 Megapixel ultrawide camera with Sony IMX586 sensor. The third camera is an 8 Megapixel 3X Telephoto lens with OIS, and finally, there is a 5 Megapixel color filter camera.
On the front, there is the same 16 Megapixel camera for selfies as on the OnePlus 8. The rear camera is capable of shooting 4K 60fps videos.
The display is also the main USP of the phone. There is a 6.78-inch Quad-HD+ Fluid AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate. Unlike Galaxy S20 series, you can use 120Hz refresh rate and 1440p resolution together on the OnePlus 8 Pro. It will obviously result in a faster discharge of the battery.
Since we are talking about the battery, let’s talk about some impressive battery numbers. The phone has a 4,500mAh battery and 30W Warp Charge 30T support. That’s not it. There is 30W Fast Wireless Charging as well, but there is a catch. You can charge the phone wirelessly at 30W with only the OnePlus Charger, and that is sold separately at a price of $69.95.
Finally, there is Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G SOC, 8/12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128/256GB UFS 3.0 storage and Android 10 with OxygenOS running on top.
ONEPLUS 8 SERIES – PRICING & AVAILABILITY
The OnePlus 8 comes in three color options named – Onyx Black, Glacial Green, and Interstellar Glow. Here is the pricing –
- 8GB RAM + 128GB ROM – $699
- 12GB RAM + 256GB ROM – $799
The OnePlus 8 Pro comes in three colors as well – Onyx Black, Glacial Green and the new Ultramarine Blue color. Here is the pricing –
- 8GB RAM + 128GB ROM – $899
- 12GB RAM + 256GB ROM – $999
Both the phones will be available starting April 24th.