OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro have just been revealed during a livestream hosted by Ryan Fenwick, OnePlus' head of corporate PR.
As Fenwick debuted the two incredible new handsets, we finally got to see loads of the rumours confirmed: as predicted, the phones were 5G beasts with incredible displays and the latest chipsets, although a little light on memory for a 2020 flagship. We were very excited to get an early hands-on of the OnePlus 8 Pro, and you can read our in-depth review of the phone below:
OnePlus 8 series reveal: How to watch
Above, you can see the live reveal as it happened. Alternatively, you can keep scrolling and spoil yourself silly over all the new OnePlus 8 series details, distilled and condensed for ease of reading.
OnePlus 8 series reveal: What we learned
Fenwick took the stage to talk about OnePlus' past and future. The handsets will both be 5G and distributed through T Mobile in the US, just as the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G has been and Verizon.
Fenwick then comes straight out with the big guns and debuts the design of the OnePlus 8 Pro, with a matte-frosted finish curved glass back in Ultramarine Blue, Onyx Black and Glacial Green. A solid curved screen with a punch-hole front-facing camera, at a tiny 3.8mm diameter, barely mars the display – which is OnePlus' big USP for this phone.
Described as "the highest-spec screen on the planet", the 6.7" QHD+ screen packs 513px per inch. A peak brightness of 1300 nits beats out competitors like the Oppo Find X2 Pro, and earned OnePlus independent body DisplayMate's highest-ever rating.
OnePlus states the OnePlus 8 Pro's screen has the power to depict over one billion colours, including colour changes imperceptible to the human eye. The screen, of course, is 120Hz, with a 240Hz touch-sampling rate to ensure it's fast and responsive. Its MEMC chip, smaller than a grain of rice, provides the display with optimal video-watching settings, adjusting the framerate on the fly.
Fenwick moves onto the camera functions. A custom Sony IMX sensor improves dynamic range to provide more detail to the image, working with a quad-camera setup: A 48MP main camera, a 48MP ultra-wide lens (the most on any smartphone ultra-wide camera, according to OnePlus), a telephoto lens with 30x digital zoom and a colour-focused lens.
Hybrid image stabilisation keeps your video shots steady, and three precise microphones allow you to record and zoom in on footage while zooming in on the directional sound too. 3HR technology keeps your footage well-lit and looking great, even when recorded on the fly.
Fenwick then dives into the rest of the specs. OnePlus 8 Pro is packing, as expected, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G chipset, the same processor in competitors such as the Samsung Galaxy S20 series. A 4510mAh battery (OnePlus' biggest battery to date) allows for 65W fast charging and Warp Charge 30 wireless charging, which will pump the phone up to 50% in just 30 minutes.
OnePlus' OxygenOS contains 280 customisation settings to make your scrolling experience personal to you. Other neat features include Live Captions, allowing you to caption videos in real time, and Google Stadia compatibility, allowing users to stream games like DOOM: Eternal in 5G. In addition to the Google Assistant, the OnePlus 8 Pro is also Amazon Alexa compatible, so you can retain your VA depending on which economy you're currently invested in.
The phone will cost $899USD for the 8GB RAM/128GB model, and $999 for the 12GB RAM/256GB model.
Fenwick then moves onto the OnePlus 8. The base model OnePlus 8 looks very similar to the Pro, with (as decribed by Fenwick) a "smaller, more compact design". At 6.55 inches, it's not the smallest of phones, but it is only 8mm thick, with shorter, tighter curves, making it bezel-less with just 180G of weight. The phone arrives with Onyx Black, Glacial Green and Interstellar Glow options (the last of which changes depending on where the light catches it).
The display is almost as good as its Pro counterpart, with 1100 nit brightness, HDR10 /10+ and another A+ DisplayMate rating. A triple-camera system looks great, but can't compete with the OnePlus 8 Pro's camera array: the same 48Mp main camera lens is joined with a 16MP ultra-wide camera and a dedicated macro camera, although it has no telephoto lens or dedicated colour-focused lens.
A 4300mAh battery packs the same great Warp Charge 30T technology as its bigger sibling, although there's no mention of the wireless charging technology that looked so impressive on the OnePlus 8 Pro. A Snapdragon 865 chip, up to 256GB storage and 12GB RAM completes the phone.
Both phones will be 5G, supported by Verizon in the US. The network will get the OnePlus 8 5G UW, a US-exclusive phone, although no further details on this model were announced.
The phone will be priced at $699 for 8GB RAM and 128GB, and the 12GBRAM/256GB version will be priced at $799. Both handsets will hit shelves on April 21 in Europe, and April 29 in the US. Pre-orders are available now.
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