OnePlus last week formally announced its new phones for 2020: the OnePlus 8 series. The higher-end 8 Pro is a straight-up flagship with no missing features to speak of, and it’s also OnePlus’s most expensive phone ever. Equipped and priced as the phone is, it’s in direct competition with other large, premium devices from big manufacturers — like, for example, Samsung’s Galaxy S20+. Here, we discuss which of the two is a better bargain.
Performance
Both the 8 Pro and S20+ are pretty stacked, specs-wise: each has a Snapdragon 865 and up to 12 gigabytes of RAM (the S20+ only comes with 12 gigs — the entry-level 8 Pro has eight gigs). In real-world terms, that means both will do anything you could reasonably expect an Android phone to do: games, productivity multitasking, what have you. They each pack beefy batteries, too, with the Samsung housing a 4,500 mAh cell and the OnePlus 4,510.
Performance and longevity are basically a wash with like-equipped models.
Camera
OnePlus’s cameras, historically, have been a point of weakness. The 8 Pro has four of ’em (five, if you count the selfie cam). There’s 48-megapixel regular and wide options, plus eight-megapixel telephoto and a baffling “color filter” camera that shouldn’t factor into your decision. On the S20+, you’ll find 12-megapixel primary and wide shooters and a 64-megapixel telephoto.
Although performance has improved since the last generation, Ryne found OnePlus’s image processing a bit heavy-handed on the 8 Pro, with saturation and contrast tuned too high. That’s Samsung’s signature move when it comes to photography, too, though — and frankly, neither of these phones are going to deliver the best mobile photography. They’re both capable, though, and neither has a camera that should dissuade you from buying.
Display
The S20+ and 8 Pro both feature big, beautiful 1440p screens, both just a skosh under 7 inches (6.7 on the Samsung, 6.78 on the OnePlus). They’re both capable of high refresh rates, too, with the option to display content in either 60 or 120Hz. But to save battery, Samsung knocks the resolution down to 1080p when 120Hz is active. OnePlus gives you the option to max both, which is bad for battery, but an objectively better experience if you want it. The 8 Pro has the edge here.
Features
The S20+ and 8 Pro offer a lot of similar features: both are 5G-compatible, IP67 rated, and have wireless charging. There are some differences, though.
Samsung’s new hotness supports millimeter wave 5G (that’s the faster but less-widely-available kind); the 8 Pro does not. It also has expandable storage and an always-on display (OnePlus says that’s coming soon to its phones, but hasn’t said when).
But the 8 Pro has faster charging, both wired and wireless — up to 30 watts with OnePlus’s proprietary chargers. It also has a physical alert slider, a feature that really ought to be standard in all smartphones.
There aren’t any big boxes left unticked by either phone, but differing fringe benefits will speak to different users. Need a ton of storage? The S20+ is probably for you. Love that alert slider? Go with the 8 Pro.
Price
The Galaxy S20+ starts at $1,200 for the model with 128 gigs of storage. The most comparable trim on the OnePlus 8 Pro — the one with 12 gigs of RAM — is $999 and has 256 gigabytes of storage space. If you can live with eight gigs of RAM, the price drops to $899 — even lower in some markets. That’s not cheap, but it’s a savings of at least $200 versus Samsung while still offering most of the features the S20+ does, and even some it doesn’t.
Unless you absolutely need expandable storage — or you can get it on sale or take advantage of Samsung’s surprisingly generous trade-in program — it’s tough to reconcile the S20+’s price tag. At full retail, the OnePlus 8 Pro is the better deal for most people.
