The recently launched OnePlus 8 Pro is a statement by OnePlus that it is no longer hiding behind the "almost there" phone as the company came out all guns blazing with its flagship-like features and the flagship-like price.
Launched alongside the cheaper OnePlus 8, the 8 Pro is seeming like a high-end flagship with a price tag of Rs 54,999.
At this price, OnePlus 8 Pro competes in the big league with the likes of devices like Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus. Here's how these two phones stack up against each other.
Design & Display
OnePlus 8 Pro packs a 6.78-inch 1440p Fluid AMOLED display as compared to the 6.7-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED display on the Galaxy S20 Plus. Both phones have high refresh rate screens at 120Hz.
The 8 Pro features a hole-punch cutout for the front camera in the top left corner whereas the S20+ comes with the Infinity-O design.
OnePlus has really worked hard on the display this year and the company has put in a 10-bit display in the 8 Pro whereas Samsung has stuck with the traditional 8-bit display. This means that while the S20+ can display about 16 million colours, the OnePlus 8 Pro can display about 1 billion different colours.
The OnePlus 8 Pro also has a display with curved edges, kind of reminiscent of the curved edges on the previous generation Samsung Notes or the Huawei. Samsung this year has reduced the curvature around its devices, so the S20+ has a flatter display.
I personally like the curved edges but there have been issues in the past where phones have registered accidental touches due to the curved edges. So, a flatter display on the Galaxy S20+ could be a better bet for you.
Hardware & Storage
Both phones have LPDDR5 RAM and come in 8GB and 12GB versions. The OnePlus 8 Pro offers up to 256GB internal storage whereas the Galaxy S20+ offers 128GB internal storage that can be expanded by adding a microSD card up to 1TB.
The OnePlus 8 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 865 chipset whereas the Indian version of the S20+ ships with the Exynos 990 SoC.
Both phones have an in-display fingerprint scanner and run on Android 10 out of the box. The OnePlus 8 Pro also has OxygenOS whereas Samsung has the OneUI 2.0 on the Galaxy S20+.
OxygenOS has a more stock Android feel and the phone doesn't have any bloatware whereas the S20+ comes pre-installed with Samsung's suite of apps. The choice of UI eventually boils down to personal preference.
Both OnePlus 8 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S20+ don’t have a 3.5mm headphone port and use the Type-C charging input as the earphone jack.
Camera & Battery
The OnePlus 8 Pro has a quad-camera setup with a 48MP main lens (f/1.78 aperture), an 8MP telephoto camera with f/2.4 aperture, a 48MP ultra-wide-angle lens with f/2.2 aperture, and a 5MP colour filter camera with f/2.4 aperture.
The camera layout also has dual-LED flash. On the front, there is a 16MP camera with an f/2.45 aperture.
The Galaxy S20+ also has a quad-camera setup. It has a main 12MP wide-angle lens with f/1.8 aperture, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera with f/2.2 aperture, a 64MP telephoto camera with f/2.0 aperture, and a fourth depth sensor.
On the front, the S20+ has a 10MP selfie shooter with f/2.2 aperture.
OnePlus has always been criticised for having a sub-par camera. So this year, the company has tried to ensure that it goes toe-to-toe with the best camera phones in the market.
On the battery front, both phones have almost identical capacity, with the S20+ having a 4500mAh battery and the OnePlus 8 Pro a 4510mAh battery. OnePlus has faster charging, however, with its 30W Warp charging, compared to Samsung’s 25W fast charging.
OnePlus has finally introduced fast wireless charging, which charges the phone wirelessly at 30W, as compared to the Galaxy S20+ charging wirelessly at 15W.
However, an important thing to note is that the OnePlus 8 Pro charges at 30W wirelessly only while using OnePlus’s proprietary wireless charger, which is sold separately. On any other wireless charger, the phone charges wirelessly at 5W.
Which is the Better Flagship?
For years, Samsung has been the phone to recommend for Android users because it is an overall complete package. It has good hardware, decent software, one of the best cameras on smartphones.
OnePlus, on the other hand, has always been the phone that has all the good things but always misses out on the camera. This year, the company has ticked quite a lot of boxes to officially become a flagship.
The OnePlus 8 Pro is a great competitor to the Samsung Galaxy S20+ and could even displace Samsung at the top. You can definitely pick up the OnePlus over the flagship Samsung this year without feeling like you’ve missed out on a premium device because this is it.
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