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OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro rumor review: design, specs, price and release date

By Georgi Zarkov

Updated: Apr 13, 2020, 4:18 AM

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OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro rumor review: design, specs, price and release date

The OnePlus 8 will look very similar to the OnePlus 7T Pro pictured above

UPDATE: OnePlus has now officially announced its new flagships. Read our OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro news story for all the details and official price info!

OnePlus is poised to kick off its 2020 smartphone releases with the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro in a matter of hours, so it’s time for a roundup of everything we know so far.

Of course, there’s plenty more to come in the upcoming months so we’ll make sure to have this post up to date. If you think one of the OnePlus 8 models might be your next smartphone, here's what you'll be getting.

OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro design

There are some major and minor changes coming to the OnePlus 8 line at the same time. How is that possible? Easy. The major changes are coming to the regular OnePlus 8 and the minor ones to the OnePlus 8 Pro. The non-pro version receives a design overhaul that pretty much makes it a clone of the Pro version. There are a couple of big changes.

First, the display is now with curved edges just like on the last two Pro versions. That decision will surely divide the OnePlus fanbase. Plenty of users don’t like curved displays and up until now, they had the option to get an almost identical spec-wise OnePlus with a flat display. With that option gone, many might choose to skip this generation, hoping to outlast the curved display trend.

The second change is the new camera bump which is also basically the one from the OnePlus 7T Pro. Gone is the big circular one from the 7T, which isn’t really a big drawback as it wasn’t well-liked overall.

OnePlus 8 Pro 5G

There’s another major change, however, that’s coming to both the 8 and the 8 Pro: a hole in the display for the selfie camera. Yes, gone is the pop-up camera from the 7T Pro and the teardrop notch is following suit. Similar to what Samsung did with the Galaxy S10 series, renders show that the 8 Pro will have a pill-shaped hole, housing two cameras, while the 8 will have a small circular one. Will those renders match the reality, we’re yet to find out.

Overall, it’s clear that the OnePlus 8 generation will closely follow the established aesthetics of the 2019 pro models. However, with such close resemblance, one question inevitably arises: Why even have two models? Maybe the internals will give us an answer.

OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro specs

If there’s one thing we don’t need leaks to tell us it’s that the next OnePlus phones will come with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865. The new system chip was already announced and offers better GPU and CPU performance among other goodies like an integrated 5G modem. 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for the base versions of the two phones have been seemingly confirmed by leaks. Another speed upgrade is coming only to the Pro, which will have LPDDR5 RAM, about 50% faster memory than LPDDR4X and 30% more power-efficient.

Here are the specs as we know them from leaks so far:

Spec	OnePlus 8	OnePlus 8 Pro
Display	6.55 inch, AMOLED, 2400x1080, 90Hz	6.78 inch, AMOLED, 3168x1440, 120Hz
CPU	Snapdragon 865	Snapdragon 865
Memory	8/12GB LPDDR4X	8/12GB LPDDR5
Storage	128/256GB UFS 3.0	128/256 UFS 3.0
Battery	4,300mAh, 30W fast charging	4,510 mAh, 30W fast charging; 30W fast wirelss charging; Reverse wireless charging
Biometrics	Face unlock; in-display fingerprint reader	Face unlock; in-display fingerprint reader

While the extra 30Hz on the refresh-rate and the additional pixels of the display of the OnePlus 8 Pro might not be enticing to some, the faster RAM and wireless charging will definitely be enough to make some people pull the trigger on the Pro variant. What we didn't include in the table above is that the OnePlus 8 Pro is also getting an IP68 water-resistance rating, while the regular OnePlus 8 is missing it. But the differences between the two models don't end here.

OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro Cameras

The cameras are just as important for a flagship phone as its system chip and although the OnePlus 8 Pro won't have an island-sized camera bump, it still has plenty to offer in that department.

Here are how the cameras of the two phones compare, according to current leaks:

Camera	OnePlus 8	OnePlus 8 Pro
Main	48MP Sony IMX586; F1.75; OIS/EIS;	48MP Sony IMX586; F1.78; OIS/EIS;
Second	16MP ultra-wide; F2.2, 116° FoV;	48MP ultra-wide; F2.2, 120° FoV;
Third	2MP macro; F2.4;	8MP telephoto; F2.4
Fourth	-	5MP color filter; F2.4
Front	16MP Sony IMX471; F2.0	16MP Sony IMX471; F2.0

We're already used to seeing dedicated macro lenses on smartphones and it seems the OnePlus 8 is going to be the latest flagship that's getting one. The 8 Pro is getting a telephoto camera instead, which is a classic part of the three-lens camera assembly. The fourth one on the 8 Pro won't be one you'll be able to use to take photos but it should enhance the image quality through some software wizardry.

Price and release date

The launch event for the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro is scheduled for tomorrow, April 14, at 11AM EDT.

As for the prices, recent leaks showed the prices for Europe of the two devices and below you can find them converted to USD and slightly adjusted to what they might be realistically.

Variant	OnePlus 8	OnePlus 8 Pro
8/128 GB	$779	$999
12/256 GB	$879	$1099

Well, we can throw the "affordable" out of the "affordable flagships" OnePlus used to boast about. Thanks to the need for 5G support and some of the other upgrades we've mentioned above, the OnePlus 8 Pro is now in the four-digit-price club.

When and in which markets the phones will be available for purchase, we'll find out about a day, so stay tuned for our OnePlus 8 series coverage!