The OnePlus 8 Series in India: Does it Make Sense to Buy One?
Updated: May 26, 2020
A couple of weeks back, OnePlus came out with two new smartphones, via a press announcement. The OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro are the successors to the 6-month-old OnePlus 7T and 7T Pro. While at the time of the announcement, only the prices for the USA were released, OnePlus announced the prices for the Indian market shortly after that via their Twitter. The prices have definitely hiked but not as much as all of us expected. The units in the USA are selling at a much higher premium when compared to the pricing in India.
This makes OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro a competitive and compelling offering in the Premium Midrange and Flagship category respectively. But Despite this, does it make sense to buy one of these phones, especially the OnePlus 8? Let’s find out by comparing it with the previous generation OnePlus 7T.
Design & Display: In terms of built quality, both phones sport a glass sandwich design. However, while the 7T has a dew-drop notch, the newer OnePlus 8 comes with a punch-hole camera on the top left corner of the screen. In terms of the display too, both the phones sport an identical 6.55-inch display with the exact same resolution with 90 Hz refresh rate. The only difference is the curve around the edges on the OnePlus 8 which is lacking on the older 7T.
Processor: The OnePlus 8 runs on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 which is 5G compatible. The OnePlus 7T, on the other hand, runs on the older Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 plus. However, in day to day usage, there isn’t much difference in both these chips, in terms of performance. Both are flagship chipsets which will perform silky smooth on most occasions. The major difference is only the 5G compatibility. However, in India, 5G does not seem to be coming at least for another year or year and a half. So, the OnePlus 8 would still be running on 4G for the majority of its life cycle. So, this cuts down on the edge of the 865 over the 855 plus.
Memory and Storage: The OnePlus 7T came in just two variants. The base variant had 8GB RAM and 128 GB storage and the other one had 8 GB RAM and 256 GB of storage. The OnePlus 8 brings back the 6GB RAM variant as the base variant with 128 GB of storage. There are two more variants with 8GB RAM 256 GB storage and 12GB RAM 256 GB storage.
Battery: Coming to the battery, the OnePlus 8 does sport a bigger 4300 mAh battery as compared to the 3800 mAh on the Oneplus 7T. So, there might be a slight improvement in battery life. Typically, however, both these phones should last one complete day on a single charge.
Software: Both the phones have exactly identical software with the latest Oxygen OS and Android 10 out of the box.
Camera: While both phones sport a triple camera setup to the rear, the optics are a bit different. While the primary camera is a similar 48 MP shooter on both phones, there is just a slight difference in the aperture where OnePlus 7T has f/1.6 whereas the one on the OnePlus 8 has f/1.75 aperture. Coupled with this is an identical 16 MP ultra-wide-angle lens. The only difference is in the third shooter where OnePlus has replaced a 12 MP telephoto on the 7T with a 2MP macro shot shooter on the OnePlus 8. While these numbers seem enough to show that on paper, the OnePlus 7T had a better camera than the OnePlus 8. However, the real-life experience might differ.
If you are convinced that the 7T is a better buy than the 8, follow this link to buy one: https://amzn.to/3ei821M
Price: Now, let's see why we are really comparing these two phones. The OnePlus 7T just received a price cut. The 6GB RAM, 128 GB Storage variant of the OnePlus 8 starts at Rs. 41,999. The base variant of the OnePlus 7T which sports the 8GB RAM and 128 GB storage Rs. 34,999, a whole Rs. 7,000 lesser than the newer sibling. The 8GB RAM 128 GB storage variant is furthermore expensive at Rs. 44,999 which is Rs. 10,000 more than the 7T variant with the same memory and storage. The top variant of the 8 with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage is priced at Rs. 49,999 which when compared to the 8GB 256GB variant of the 7T (priced at Rs. 37,999) is Rs. 12,000 more expensive.
For this huge difference, the only thing that the newer OnePlus 8 offers is a slightly better processor and a slightly better battery life. There is 5G compatibility, but that does not count as of now as India is far away from 5G right now. So, in our opinion, the OnePlus 7T still remains a better option over the OnePlus 8.
To add on to this, the more premium OnePlus 7T Pro too received a price cut. As a result, the OnePlus 7T pro undercuts the top variant of the OnePlus 8 by Rs. 2,000. Priced at Rs. 47,999, it offers a bigger screen, and better cameras while 4GB lesser RAM than the top variant. However, 8GB RAM is more than sufficient for any mobile phone today. So, that difference should not matter much to a normal user.
This pricing of the OnePlus 8 and the eventual price-cut on the previous models have automatically raised questions amongst many people as to which one is more value for money phone. In our opinion, the OnePlus 7T is currently the more recommendable model with a price tag which is below Rs. 40,000 and offers almost similar features like the OnePlus 8. However, if you are looking at somewhere around the Rs. 50,000 mark, the OnePlus 7T Pro comes in and sits above the OnePlus 8 with a much better camera which is almost flagship-grade.
Honourable mention to the Realme X2 Pro which has all the features that the OnePlus 7T has. It comes with an identical display, identical build quality and same internals. However, it offers a much faster 50 Watts charger out of the box. And to top it all, it starts at just Rs. 29,999 for the 6+64 GB variant, Rs. 31,999 for the 8+128 GB variant and Rs. 35,999 for the 12+256 GB variant. This is considerably cheaper than the OnePlus counterparts. However, it lacks the almost stock android experience of the Oxygen OS.
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