One Plus has announced its first flagship for this year. One Plus 8 and 8 Pro. One Plus has been leaking the phone for some time now, it’s the way One Plus works. Teasing its phone in form of leaks before release. Free marketing, right? And yes, all the leaks are true. The only thing that we didn’t know before the phone’s release was its price. And the only make or break about this release is its price.
One Plus is known to people for being the “Flagship Killer”, providing flagship performing smartphones at affordable prices creating hype at every release. One Plus has been slowly moving away from the tagline “Flagship Killer” positioning itself as a premium smartphone brand by itself. Well Every McLaren release of One Plus was aimed at positioning itself as a premium smartphone brand. Let’s first have a quick snapshot of its specs before we discuss about its price.
Coming to its price, One Plus 8 starts at $599 for 128GB/8GB RAM while its bigger brother starts at $899 for 128GB/8GB RAM. Surprisingly, One Plus starts at a much lower price in India than its US counterpart. One Plus 8 starts at 44,000 INR while One Plus 8 Pro starts at 54000 INR.
Unlike One Plus 7 Pro, One Plus 8 Pro does not have any price cut. It sports a high-quality camera, ultra-fast wireless charging along with its impressive performance coupled with an impressive 120Hz display. One Plus 8 Pro also has an official IP rating this year, which One Plus has avoided on its previous editions though it claims to have added the protection to reduce licensing costs.
But One Plus 8 does not feature a Wireless Charging, it does compromise on its camera performance (Inputs from MKBHD) and does not have an official IP rating (Please don’t splash it around water). Its display is not as impressive as its bigger brother, but it still rocks an 90Hz display.
While its priced similar to iPhone in US, One Plus 8 Pro is still a wonderful deal in India at least. At 54000, it costs as much as on XR and ticks all the boxes for me. The only thing that has kept me away from an One Plus has been its camera. But reviews look good for One Plus so far. But I am still doubting if I would love the camera. On a conversation with One Plus developer, he quoted One Plus tweaks its camera software to add a beautify effect for its phones in India. I have to have my hands on one before deciding on that.
While I would prefer the Pro, I would still pass on One Plus 8, with price starting at 40k, I expect a better camera from One Plus. With recent release of iPhone SE2 starting at $399, I would pick iPhone grade camera performance over One Plus 8 any day!
What’s your views on the 8 and 8 Pro? Comment below!
One Plus 8 Pro unboxing and review video is on the pipeline folks. Stay tuned for that!
Tremendously nice!