News, Smartphone

OnePlus 8 Series Unveiled: 120Hz 1440p Display, Quad Camera, 30W Wireless Charging

The OnePlus 8 series is here, and as expected, there are two devices in the lineup: the standard OnePlus 8, and the higher-end OnePlus 8 Pro. Compared to their predecessors, these two new phones naturally come with some notable upgrades, including faster displays and more sophisticated camera systems.

Let’s start with the range-topping OnePlus 8 Pro. One of the most highlighted hardware of this device is its 6.78-inch 3168 x 1440 Fluid AMOLED display with a fast 120Hz refresh rate. This is a slight upgrade over the OnePlus 7 Pro‘s 90Hz screen.

And then there’s the quad camera system of the OnePlus 8 Pro. It’s made up of a 48MP f/1.78 main sensor with optical image stabilisation, a 48MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle shooter, an 8MP f/2.44 telephoto lens that can do 3x hybrid zoom or 30x digital zoom, and a 5MP f/2.4 colour filter camera. On paper, it’s not an amazing camera system, but it’s befitting of a flagship smartphone.

Naturally, the OnePlus 8 Pro features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset as well. You can expect to get excellent processing power out of the SoC, and the inclusion of that chip also gives the device 5G connectivity – as with all high-end smartphones in the market now.

Thanks to the OnePlus 8 Pro’s 4,510mAh battery, you should get reasonably good battery life with this smartphone. On top of that, OnePlus is finally adding wireless charging support to this device, and it’s rated at 30W too for both wired and wireless charging. Interestingly, it can also do two-way wireless charging.

Rounding out the specifications of the OnePlus 8 Pro include up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of fast UFS 3.0 storage, a 16MP f/2.45 selfie camera, an in-screen fingerprint sensor, and get this: IP68 rating. This is the first OnePlus device to be water- and dust-resistant.

If you want something more affordable, there’s the regular OnePlus 8. Unlike the Pro variant, this standard model is a smaller, more compact flagship smartphone with a 6.55-inch 2400 x 1080 Fluid AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. That’s right, only 90Hz; it doesn’t get the Pro’s faster 120Hz panel.

In the camera department, the OnePlus 8 doesn’t have the Pro’s more sophisticated quad camera array either. Instead, it has a triple camera system made up of a 48MP f/1.75 main sensor with OIS, a 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle shooter, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro lens. There’s no telephoto camera on offer here, which is quite odd for a flagship-tier smartphone.

Another rather big exclusion on the OnePlus 8 is wireless charging support and an IP68 rating. Unfortunately, these two features are only available on the Pro model. The good news? At least this more affordable variant still gets 30W wired charging.

Other specifications of the OnePlus 8 include a 16MP f/2.45 selfie camera positioned in the hole-punch cutout on the top left of the screen, up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage, a 4,300mAh battery, 5G connectivity, and an in-screen fingerprint sensor.

Both the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro are now available for pre-order in selected markets. In the US, the standard OnePlus 8 retails at $699 (RM3,030) and $799 (RM3,460) for the 128GB + 8GB and 256GB + 12GB options respectively.

As for the OnePlus 8 Pro, the 128GB + 8GB variant goes for $899 (RM3,895), while the top-of-the-range 256GB + 12GB option costs $999 (RM4,325). As usual, Malaysian availability of the two phones have not been revealed yet, though there is a good chance they will be sold here in the near future.

Without a doubt the OnePlus 8 series is more expensive than its predecessor, and this upward trend has been OnePlus’ pricing strategy over the years. Of course, it’s entirely possible the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro can command these premium price tags – we’ll reserve judgment until we have the devices in for review.

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