After months of leaks and teasers, OnePlus has finally launched its highly anticipated OnePlus 8 series that comes with plenty of significant upgrades and a price tag to match.
The jump in specifications, as well as the price bracket, now puts the series at par with flagships like the latest Samsung Galaxy S20 and Huawei P40.
Design and Display
OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro look pretty much like the 2019- launched OnePlus 7T Pro. The only difference is the addition of a fourth camera lens besides the vertically aligned camera system in OP8 Pro. Both smartphones will be available in Interstellar Glow or Ultramarine Blue (depending on the region), Glacial Green, and Onyx Black colors.
On the front, the obvious design change is that OnePlus has ditched the pop-up camera and has stamped a punch hole cut out for the selfie camera instead. This seems to be a step back from the uninterrupted full screen experience of yesteryear. Although this was necessary for the IP68 water and dust resistance, the trade-off may be a let down for some.
As far as the display is concerned, OnePlus 8 sports a 6.55-inch Fluid AMOLED panel with 2400 x 1080 pixels resolution and 90Hz refresh rate.
The OnePlus 8 Pro, on the other hand, boasts a 6.78-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate coupled with a 240Hz touch response rate. At 1300 nits brightness, OP8 Pro’s display is one of the brightest and sharpest smartphone screens in the industry.
On top of this, OnePlus has also added a motion optimization feature called MEMC to the Pro model. This feature adds additional frames to upscale the footage to 120Hz, similar to how some TVs do it.
Internals and Storage
As for the innards, both smartphones are driven by the top of the line Snapdragon 865 chipset topped with the latest LPDDR5 RAM standard and UFS 3.0 storage, which means faster app installs and reads/writes. Both smartphones offer 8 GB or 12 GB RAM options with 128 GB or 256 GB onboard storage.
The smartphones run on OxygenOS on top of Android 10. The new OxygenOS Android implementation, according to the company, comes with 280 new optimizations that are designed to make the Android experience smoother. Which seems to be the main focus of OxygenOS, one which Google should follow.
Cameras
The vanilla model comes with a triple sensor rear camera featuring a 48 MP main sensor joined by a 2 MP Macro Lens and a 16 MP ultra-wide lens with 116 degrees FoV.
As for the Pro version, one of the major upgrades it brings over its predecessor is the new quadruple camera system. The smartphone features a 48 MP main sensor, an 8 MP telephoto lens, a 48 MP ultra-wide lens, and a 5 MP color filter. The new color filter lens is added to support lighting effects and filters for photography.
Both smartphones come with a 16 MP sensor for selfies.
Battery and Pricing
The vanilla OnePlus 8 packs a 4,300mAh battery that supports 30W warped wired charging. The Pro variant, on the other hand, comes with a slightly larger 4,510 mAh battery with support for Warp Charge 30T that can charge the phone from 0 to 50% in 23 minutes. Moreover, the OnePlus 8 Pro finally comes with support for 30W “Warp Charge” wireless charging as well, but that only works with the $70 OnePlus wireless charger.
The smartphones will be available for sale by 29th April, and the regular OnePlus 8 will be priced at $699 its base variant and $799 for the maxed-out variant, while the OnePlus 8 Pro will set users back by $899 for the base variant and $999 for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro Specifications
| Specifications | OnePlus 8 | OnePlus 8 Pro |
| CPU | Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 585 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 585) | Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 585 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 585) |
| GPU | Adreno 650 | Adreno 650 |
| Chipset | Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865 (7 nm+) | Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865 (7 nm+) |
| OS | Android 10.0, OxygenOS | Android 10.0, OxygenOS |
| Networks | 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, 5G | 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, 5G |
| Display | 6.55-inch 90Hz Fluid AMOLED
2400×1080 (20:9) HDR10+ Gorilla Glass 6 |
6.78-inch 120Hz Fluid AMOLED
3168×1440 (19.8:9) HDR10+ 3D Gorilla Glass |
| Memory | (8GB/12GB)/(128GB/256GB) | (8GB/12GB)/(128GB/256GB) |
| Camera | Primary: 48 MP + 2 MP + 16 MP | Primary: 48 MP + 8 MP + 48 MP + 5 MP |
| Selfie: 16 MP | Selfie: 16 MP | |
| Connectivity | LTE, USB type-C, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, | LTE, USB Type-C, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes (in-Display) | Yes (in-Display) |
| Battery | 4300mAh
Warp Charge 30T (5V/6A) |
4510mAh
Warp Charge 30T (5V/6A) Warp Charge 30 Wireless (20V/1.5A) |
| Price | · 8GB/128GB ~ $699
· 12GB/256GB ~$799 |
· 8GB/128GB ~ $899
· 12GB/256GB ~$999 |
