OnePlus 8 unveiled with 48MP camera and SD865, 8 Pro gets bigger sensor, 120Hz screen

They are here and let’s get this out of the way first – OnePlus kept its promise that its phones will be under $1,000. Indeed, the full-loaded Pro phone is $999 and the base configuration is $100 below that. The vanilla OnePlus 8 starts at $700. The two new models will be available on OnePlus.com starting on April 29 and will also sell through Amazon in the US as well as the major carriers.

OnePlus 8 Pro

The OnePlus 8 Pro comes with a new 6.78” Fluid AMOLED display, the largest for the brand yet, and its first to hit 120Hz refresh rate. The screen comes with 240Hz touch sampling rate to minimize input lag.

OnePlus 8 Pro

The display is calibrated at the factory achieving a record-setting color accuracy. It’s a 10-bit panel with HDR10+ support. HDR Boost will take old 8-bit content and enhance it. There’s also MEMC, which can interpolate 24fps video to 120fps. That’s a “love it or hate it” feature, but OnePlus also did extensive optimizations to the software to ensure that the interface flies at 120fps with no snags.

The pop-up camera of previous Pro models is gone, replaced by a simple punch hole camera. The OnePlus 8 Pro is the first phone by the company to feature an official IP68 rating.

For years OnePlus was saying that wireless charging tech isn’t ready – well, it finally is. Warp Charge 30 Wireless can charge the 8 Pro at up to 30W and can fill a flat battery to 50% in half an hour. Reverse wireless charging is supported as well.

Wired charging is still a bit faster, the 30W Warp Charge 30T goes from 0% to 50% battery charge in 23 minutes. Still, the OnePlus 8 Pro houses a larger 4,510mAh battery (up from 4,000mAh on the 7 Pro) and the new wireless charging is about as fast as the non-T Warp Charge 30.

The phone has two 48MP cameras plus a telephoto and an assistant module. The main cam uses the 1/1.4"-inch Sony IMX689 sensor with 1.12µm native pixels and 2.24µm binned pixels. It has omni-directional autofocus on all pixels.

It can record 4K video at 60fps using the new Single Shot 3-HDR feature, which captures three exposures at once, greatly enhancing the dynamic range. The camera uses a mix of Optical and Electronic image stabilization.

The other 48MP camera has a 120° ultrawide lens and also doubles as a macro camera taking snaps at 3cm distance.

The third camera is an 8MP telephoto module. The sensor has 1.0µm pixels and sits behind a lens with f/2.44 aperture and OIS. The fourth module is an all-new Color Filter camera, which will help with the rendering of various color effects.

The OnePlus 8 is powered by a Snapdragon 865 chipset. Its performance is further enhanced by the switch to LPDDR5 RAM, which is 30% faster while using 20% less energy than the RAM on the OnePlus 7 series. The storage is of the UFS 3.0 variety.

The phone boasts 5G connectivity, of course, specifically the sub-6GHz flavor. Locally, there’s Wi-Fi 6 that tops out at 9.6Gbps – that’s faster than even the 5G modem (7.5Gbps on a mmWave connection).

The OnePlus 8 Pro will cost $899/£799 for the version with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage. There’s one step up from that, the 12/256GB option for $999/£899. It will be available in the new Ultramarine Blue and Glacial Green colors as well as Onyx Black.

OnePlus 8 Pro: Ultramarine Blue • Glacial Green • Onyx Black

You can read our hands-on review for more details on the phone and our first impressions.

OnePlus 8

The OnePlus 8 is built around a 6.55” screen with 1080p+ resolution and 90Hz refresh rate. This is not the same panel as the 7T, however, this one is curved and has a punch hole for the selfie camera, replacing the notch. The screen supports HDR10+ and offers perfect color accuracy, just like its bigger sibling.

The 48MP main camera uses an older IMX586 sensor, meaning you lose the omni-directional AF. Also, the pixels are notably smaller at 0.8µm. Pixel binning is still supported and there’s the OIS+EIS combo to help out.

The 16MP ultra wide camera (116°) gives up the macro duties, which are handled by a dedicated 2MP macro camera instead. There’s no telephoto camera, instead the 48MP sensor natively supports 2x zoom via crop.

The 4,300mAh battery offers 13% more capacity compared to the 7T. It supports Warp Charge 30T over USB-C, charging up to 50% takes only 22 minutes. There’s no wireless charging on this model, however.

Like the Pro, the OnePlus 8 is powered by a Snapdragon 865 chipset with the same memory configurations – 8GB of RAM and 128GB as standard, 12/256GB for those who need more. Note that the RAM is the slower LPDDR4X like on previous models.

5G and Wi-Fi 6 are supported on this phone as well, the company is all in on new connectivity. Verizon is getting a special version of the phone which adds the faster mmWave as well.

Both new models have in-display fingerprint readers. Also, they sport stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support and the haptic feedback has been improved for a better gaming experience.

The OnePlus 8 will be available alongside the Pro, starting on April 24. The base configuration (8/128GB) is $700/£599 and you can upgrade to 12/256GB for $100/£100 more.

OnePlus 8: Interstellar Glow • Glacial Green (matte) • Onxy Black • Polar Silver

The phone comes in two new colors - Interstellar Glow (which has a glossy finish) and Glacial Green (with a matte finish). The standard Onyx Black is also glossy. Verizon has exclusivity on the Polar Silver color.

Is this a big enough upgrade over the OnePlus 7T? Check out our hands-on review for our initial thoughts on the matter.