OnePlus 7 Pro vs Huawei P30 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S10+ – Is OnePlus still a flagship killer?

This comparison was written initially with leaked specs, which are normally accurate this close to launch. It will be updated with any changes following the full launch.

With the launch on the OnePlus 7 with its Pro variant, are they still a flagship killer?

OnePlus have steadily been increasing their prices each year, now with a Pro model, this has allowed them to jack up the price to premium flagship levels which will likely alienate a few users.

But how does the new Pro model compare against the other premium phones of the year? For me, the standout options are the Huawei P30 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S10+ both of which has an RRP of around £200 more than the OnePlus so technically they are still an affordable option, just less so.

It is also worth noting that the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom lands in the UK soon and that will likely be around the same price as the OnePlus 7 Pro.

The stand out feature of the OP7 Pro is the huge 6.67 OLED screen running at 1440 x 3120 pixels with a refresh rate of 90Hz which has no notch thanks to the pop-up selfie camera. So from the get-go, this is probably the best gaming phone of the year (so far), though the Black Shark 2 is an amazing affordable choice.

While the phone has an impressive 4000mAh battery, the huge display and higher than normal refresh rate will likely chew through it faster than the battery champion, P30 Pro. Though it may last longer than an Exynos based Galaxy S10. OnePlus continue to omit wireless charging, I guess this helps keep costs down, and for me, it doesn’t make or break a phone, but it is a nice addition.

The camera will no doubt be a contentious area of comparison in the up and coming weeks. Specs wise, the OnePlus looks excellent, with 48MP/16MP/8MP with one lens being ultra-wide and another telephoto providing 3x optical zoom. It is unlikely that it will perform quite as well as the exceptional P30 Pro, with its 5x optical zoom and a primary lens with extraordinary low light performance. However, numbers don’t make a great camera, just look at the Pixel 3A which everyone appears to love with its single 12MP lens.

Unlike the other two phones, this has no IP rating at all, let alone an impressive IP68. Again, this is due to costs. Apparently, it can handle some water, but getting that rating costs money, which then adds to the cost of the phone.

The OP7 Pro will be the first phone commercially available on the market to feature UFS 3.0 storage. This has double the bandwidth than UFS 2.1 found on most other premium models, and it requires less power. How this will affect real-world performance will be interesting to see.

The Pro model will have 5G compatibility, at the time of writing it is unknown if this will be a 5G variant, at an additional cost (I would bet it is). This would obviously give it a big advantage over the P30 Pro if you plan to be an early 5G adopter. Samsung also has a 5G variant of the S10, but it has not launched in the UK yet.

Overall

The OnePlus 7 Pro will undoubtedly be a great phone, while it doesn’t offer the great value for money its predecessors did, it is still cheaper than the current cream of the crop, with specs to compete.

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