OnePlus entered the market as a brand that delivered top performance to everyone in as little money as possible and was marketed as the flagship killer. Seven phones (and 12 editions) later, OnePlus have released their most expensive device yet — OnePlus 7 Pro — and alongwith the spec sheet of the flagships, the company has also started to touch their premium price segment. This begs the question: is OnePlus still a flagship killer or have they converted to a flagship?
Up until OnePlus 6T, their phones were getting more expensive with every launch but were still in the affordable range for a majority of people. The OnePlus 6 and 6T, justified every single cent of their price tag.
With top of the line specs, a decent camera, and all the premium knick-knacks, the OnePlus 7 Pro comes in at about $669 for the base model (6+128GB). The question, though, is it worth it?
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OnePlus 7 Pro: a more in-depth look
Take a look around the phone, and you’ll immediately feel that there were no corners cut on the handling experience. For the price you’re paying, you’ll get exactly what you’d expect – a reliable phone that feels durable and premium in hand. Oh, and that Nebula Blue glass back kills it.
Moving on, things get interesting on the inside. The OnePlus 7 Pro is powered by the latest and greatest by Snapdragon, the SD855. It also boasts support for the UFS 3.0 storage along with a RAM and storage combination of 6+128 GB for the base model going all the way up to 12+256GB on the top one.
Camera performance is also up from the previous generation OnePlus phones. Until the 6T, OnePlus delivered decent camera performance but it still lagged behind flagships like the iPhone X and Pixel 3. On the 7 Pro, things are different.
Under natural lighting, the pictures are nearly on par with most flagships. Low light performance is also great. The built-in night mode does an excellent job of getting clear, noiseless photos even in pitch black environments.
The best thing about this phone, however, is the display. This phone is 6.7″ curved quad HD super AMOLED screen on the front. The panel is beautifully sharp and crisp. Moreover, the 90Hz refresh rate makes everything look so smooth, especially with OnePlus’ OxygenOS already giving a fluid experience.
Since there’s no notch, a pop-up selfie camera has been placed. The camera is pretty durable and has been said to survive 300,000 cycles, which translates to using it 150 times every day for five years. The phone even detects if you drop it with the camera open and retracts the front cam.
There’s an in-display fingerprint sensor. OnePlus claims to have optimised the sensor to work faster. As per the claim, there should be no difference between this and the capacitive sensors on the last gen phones.
You also get stereo speakers and faster TurboCharging. One thing that is missing though is wireless charging and the headphone jack.
Is the OnePlus 7 Pro worth it?
In one word, yes. However, we suggest going for the top model as just for around $80 more, you’re getting way more RAM and storage, all on those maxed out specs that will ensure that until the battery supports, your phone doesn’t stop doing the job swiftly.
Although OnePlus 7 Pro comes with a premium price tag — bringing it closer to the flagships it was once supposedly going against — the company have also launched two relatively cheaper OnePlus 7 devices that are closer to their last generation 6T both in price and the water-drop notch design.
While a lot of people foresaw this happening with OnePlus, a bunch of loyalists would want to believe that OnePlus is still competing as the underdog in the race of the elite flagships. But given the price of the 7 Pro — and the release of the Xiaomi Poco F1 — it seems like the flagship killer days are behind the company as they are beginning to settle into the premium category that screams ‘not for everyone’.
OnePlus came with the promise of disruption in the smartphone market and it did fulfil its promise for a few years but maybe the dream of having a budget smartphone with a solid build and top-notch specs has to be short-lived in this competitive and pacy tech world.
