The OnePlus 9 Pro is a authentic flagship cellphone that’s genuinely aggressive with one of the best Android telephones in the marketplace — not less than from a options and high quality perspective. Yet by way of market and thoughts share, it’s nonetheless destined to be a distinct segment machine for a small group of fans in search of a selected form of class of their Android machine.

And that’s nice.

If you reside within the US and also you’re shopping for an Android cellphone, likelihood is very excessive that you just’ll find yourself with a Samsung Galaxy cellphone. Samsung has the service relationships, high quality, and advertising which have led on to market share. LG, Motorola, and even Google sell more phones here than OnePlus does.

But after almost seven years and dozens of telephones, OnePlus has established itself as a model that may make nice telephones which can be critical alternate options to the mainstream. The $1069 OnePlus 9 Pro (the one possibility in North America, different elements of the world have entry to a barely inexpensive mannequin) achieves that purpose with solely a handful of notable compromises.

OnePlus’ flagship telephones all the time include a laundry checklist of top-of-the-line specs, however what makes the OnePlus 9 Pro good isn’t the numbers; it’s how effectively these specs translate into probably the greatest experiences you will get utilizing Android.

OnePlus 9 Pro {hardware} design and 5G help

The {hardware} design on the OnePlus 9 Pro is probably the most seamless, elegant cellphone that the corporate has designed to this point. It is, in fact, huge. It has a 6.7-inch display that goes from edge to edge in a physique that’s slim sufficient to make it simply barely usable for me in a single hand.

What I can’t assist however discover is how far OnePlus has are available construct high quality. The glass on the back and front curves into the aluminum rail on the perimeters with no seams in any respect. It’s well-balanced, stunning, and strong.

It’s additionally the spitting picture of a Galaxy S20 Plus. Shift a few buttons round, transfer the selfie digital camera to the center, and swap out the emblem, and it’s the identical design. I get that there are solely so some ways to sandwich curved glass and aluminum collectively, but it surely’s uncanny.

To be honest, OnePlus does maintain a few of its identification within the three-stage ringer swap, which simply helps you to toggle between a ringer, vibration, and totally silent. It should be my favourite characteristic on OnePlus telephones, and I stay baffled as to why extra Android cellphone makers don’t undertake a bodily ringer swap.

Speaking of vibration, the haptics on the OnePlus 9 Pro aren’t sloppy in any respect, in contrast to many Android telephones. Unfortunately, the trade-off is that they aren’t very robust; I usually can’t really feel it vibrate in my pocket.

The OnePlus 9 Pro has the top-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, which is paired with eight gigs of RAM on the 128GB mannequin. Unfortunately, this configuration isn’t offered in North America — OnePlus initially anticipated to make it out there, however later stated that offer constraints led it to supply solely the dearer model with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM. There’s no microSD card slot for storage growth in both mannequin. What you get is what you get.

It helps each Sub-6 and millimeter-wave (mmWave) types of 5G, however there’s a big caveat: the cellphone helps it, however OnePlus has solely managed to land 5G certification from its service companion, T-Mobile. If you purchase it unlocked, as of now, it is going to solely work with T-Mobile’s 5G community. Everything else might be LTE. AT&T 5G help doesn’t look like within the playing cards in any respect, and as for Verizon, OnePlus says that it “continues to work with Verizon to certify both the 9 and 9 Pro on its 5G network.” Later, on March twenty sixth, Verizon introduced that it could help 5G on the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro.

OnePlus 9 Pro battery and charging

For OnePlus, the standout spec is its proprietary charging know-how. There’s a 65W charger included within the field, and it will possibly cost up the cellphone ridiculously quick. The cellphone’s 4,500mAh battery is definitely break up in two, which helps additional velocity charging.

If you want, you’ll be able to spend an extra $69 on OnePlus’ new Warp Charge 50 wi-fi charger. It fees at 25W, however because the battery is break up, it’s basically the identical as charging at 50W, wirelessly. It additionally works should you set the cellphone on the charger in panorama mode. With the cellphone totally useless, it charged fully in 45 minutes. With ambient mode in Google Assistant on, it took a bit longer — but it surely was nonetheless depraved quick in comparison with different wi-fi chargers.

That 4,500mAh battery was sufficient to get me by a full day and a half of reasonably heavy utilization. However, OnePlus telephones do are typically a bit extra variable of their battery life relying on use. Spending a day capturing 4K video and pushing the processor with video games meant I might kill it with lower than 4 hours of screen-on time.

So whereas the battery life may not be finest at school, the best way OnePlus has constructed its ecosystem for charging means I’m in a position to prime off quicker than I can with different telephones — offered I take advantage of OnePlus’ proprietary chargers, in fact.

OnePlus 9 Pro display

After wi-fi charging, the subsequent standout spec on the OnePlus 9 Pro is that 6.7-inch display. Like Samsung, OnePlus has converted to an LTPO type of OLED, which may be extra energy environment friendly and permits the corporate to have extra management over the refresh price.

The display can go all the best way from 120Hz on all the way down to 1Hz, relying on what’s taking place on the show. OnePlus has branded the contact response price on the display as “Hyper Touch,” clocked at 360Hz for sure video games, and although I’m doubtful it makes that huge a distinction for players, OnePlus says it might. More consequential is the display decision: 1440 x 3216 at 525ppi. You can depart it at that prime decision and have the excessive refresh price display going on the identical time. Doing so most likely hits battery life, however to me, the purpose of this max-spec cellphone is to max the specs, so I didn’t flip down the decision or the refresh price.

Those are the specs on the display, but it surely’s the expertise that issues. And once more, I feel OnePlus has completed a exceptional job right here. Something in regards to the tuning of the animations in OxygenOS makes this cellphone really feel just a bit bit smoother than even Samsung telephones. I additionally recognize the colour tuning — though it’s not as subdued as an iPhone or perhaps a Pixel, it’s extra restrained than Samsung’s default settings.

OnePlus 9 Pro digital camera

Without delving into plenty of historical past, I’ll simply level out that till very just lately, digital camera high quality has been the primary downfall for OnePlus telephones. It’s a very dangerous strategy to fall down, too, as a result of usually, the clearest and easiest strategy to evaluate telephones that in any other case look and carry out almost equivalently is to take a look at the images they take.

OnePlus is aware of all of this and desires to place the OnePlus 9 Pro as a heads-up competitor — or not less than a viable different — to the perfect Samsung and even Apple have to supply. So it did a factor plenty of challenger manufacturers do: known as in a ringer.

That ringer is Hasselblad, which OnePlus is partnering with to enhance its digital camera outcomes. It might be a multiyear effort, and it’s removed from assured it’ll be a fruitful partnership. In truth, most of those types of offers don’t actually do something notable relating to the digital camera’s high quality.

This yr, Hasselblad’s participation with OnePlus’ growth course of amounted to serving to the corporate tune the colours from the digital camera and lending a little bit of its interface to the digital camera’s Pro mode. Oh, and most significantly for OnePlus, Hasselblad allowed its emblem to be stamped subsequent to the lenses.

I do suppose there’s some credit score on account of this color-tuning affect. In the identical method that different smartphone manufacturers have a “look” to their images, I feel OnePlus is growing its personal. iPhone images are usually flat and impartial, tending to the nice and cozy aspect of shade; Pixel images contrasty and blue; and Samsung images have the vibrancy slider set to max.

The OnePlus 9 Pro’s picture output lands principally within the center. It tends towards blue, and it positively lifts up shadows to create extra even lighting. Its images are extra placing however much less correct than what you’ll get out of an iPhone.

The digital camera system is nice, however it will possibly’t fairly match the standard you get from an iPhone 12 Pro Max or Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra — each of which price greater than the OnePlus 9 Pro. It handles a wide range of circumstances fairly effectively, however typically I simply needed to take an additional beat to compose my shot. It let me higher decide what the viewfinder was exhibiting and, actually, gave me time to strive the shot once more.

As normal with smartphone cameras, I feel the distinction comes all the way down to software program. I like the colours the 9 Pro produces, however typically it simply tries too exhausting and whiffs. Similarly, OnePlus appears to need to deliver a bit of that Pixel distinction magic to bear however as a substitute simply oversharpens. And lightening shadows is usually laudable, however not when it provides fully pointless and distracting picture noise.

The essential digital camera makes use of a brand new 48-megapixel Sony sensor with OIS, although after I pressed OnePlus to inform me what precisely that sensor brings to the desk, I didn’t actually get a transparent reply. You can shoot 12-bit RAW pictures within the Pro mode (which is 2 bits greater than final yr, should you’re preserving rely).

That’s all good, however the interface on Pro mode is what will get me. You can clearly see what’s set to guide and what’s in auto mode. It’s easy and straightforward to make use of, too. Best of all is focus peaking, which attracts little traces over the a part of the picture that’s in focus. It is rather a lot clearer and extra enjoyable to make use of than the tap-to-focus it is advisable to use on different telephones. (You can try this right here, too, in fact.)

The OnePlus 9 Pro’s different cameras embody a giant, 50-megapixel ultrawide with a sensor that’s quite a bit nicer than the same old step-down sensors ultrawides get caught with. I cherished utilizing it proper up till it went haywire with sharpening. OnePlus put in a customized lens to assist with distortion on the edges, and it really works as effectively or higher than pure software program fixes at preserving straight traces from bowing.

The telephoto digital camera is 3.3x, and it’s not something particular at that zoom stage. Beyond it, digital zoom is form of a multitude. It will get pantsed by the S21 Ultra with its periscope-style lens. There’s additionally a monochrome digital camera that serves solely as a helper for the remainder of the system, however I believe it’s not doing something particularly necessary. OnePlus did drop the gimmicky and pointless “color filter” digital camera from final yr’s 8 Pro this time round. It will most likely drop the monochrome digital camera subsequent yr, if I needed to guess.

OnePlus’ software-focused Nightscape mode works very well for capturing nighttime pictures, though to my tastes, it over-brightens the picture. Portrait mode is a blended bag; heads usually look artificially minimize out from the blurry background. Again, I can get good pictures, however portrait mode was usually a kind of conditions the place I wanted to strive the shot a second time. The selfie digital camera is satisfactory in good gentle however falls down quick at midnight.

Unfortunately, video is equally messy. The OnePlus 9 Pro will allow you to shoot as much as 8K 30 or 4K 120, however neither seemed good. In truth, common outdated 4K 30 has that overprocessed and oversharpened look you see so usually from smartphones. The huge new characteristic is improved HDR for backlit topics, however the impact is minimal at finest.

That’s a complete pile of essential takes in comparison with telephones that price greater than this cellphone. But regardless of the value distinction, I feel the OnePlus 9 Pro’s digital camera needs to be held to as excessive an ordinary as doable — it’s a flagship cellphone. It can typically cling with one of the best of one of the best, and that’s a win.

Grid View

OnePlus 9 Pro efficiency and OxygenOS 11

Even although the digital camera is commonly the primary differentiator for an Android cellphone, it’s not essentially everyone’s highest precedence. When I’m not pixel-peeping images, the OnePlus 9 Pro is one of the best Android cellphone I’ve used to date this yr. The efficiency is nice. I’m particularly impressed with the optical in-screen fingerprint sensor, which is tremendous quick and doesn’t appear to be thrown by bizarre lighting circumstances.

OnePlus’ model of Android is named OxygenOS, and it’s now at model 11. The firm has borrowed Samsung’s concept of shifting content material down to satisfy your thumb and added in help for an always-on ambient show. The animations really feel clean, and OnePlus has discovered its lesson about how annoying it may be to have apps shut within the background too usually.

OnePlus has dedicated to 2 main OS updates and three years of bimonthly safety updates, which places it forward of manufacturers like LG however behind Samsung and Google.

You can customise a couple of issues just like the font and icons, too. My favourite customization is an ambient show mode that shows a colourful bar that reveals how usually you’ve been utilizing your cellphone all through the day.

One characteristic borrowed from Apple and / or Microsoft is the flexibility to place your widgets right into a separate panel in order that they’re not littering your essential house display, accessible through a fast swipe down. I like it, however I want it wasn’t mapped to the identical factor different Android telephones use to shortly deliver down notifications.

Mostly, although, OxygenOS simply feels chill, particularly in comparison with Samsung. OnePlus isn’t pushing its personal ecosystem of apps and companies (although with a brand new OnePlus Watch coming, maybe that will change). It’s additionally not festooning its personal apps with ads, in contrast to Samsung.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

The OnePlus 9 Pro just isn’t a “flagship killer.” It’s a flagship. Although it nonetheless prices rather less than its top-tier opponents, it nonetheless is a dear cellphone that makes plenty of guarantees. Mostly, it delivers on them. Even although a tiny fraction of consumers purchase OnePlus telephones in comparison with Apple and Samsung, the corporate has constructed a monitor report lengthy sufficient to deserve its standing as a longtime model.

If you’re contemplating one of many new OnePlus telephones, I’m really hard-pressed to make the case for the OnePlus 9 Pro over the common OnePlus 9, which Allison Johnson reviewed. The common OnePlus 9 is $240 much less, and the stuff you lose are principally the nice-to-haves that justify the Pro’s existence: quick wi-fi charging, OIS, a telephoto lens, mmWave 5G, and the marginally bigger display. The cheaper OnePlus 9 lacks telephoto, however its different cameras take images which can be almost equal to the professional. It has a excessive refresh price display, quick wired charging, wi-fi charging (although it’s not as quick), and most significantly, a pleasant OnePlus software program expertise with nice efficiency.

The cause to go for the 9 Pro over the common 9 is in some methods the identical cause you’d go for a OnePlus cellphone over a Samsung cellphone within the first place: it’s just a bit nicer and a bit totally different than what everyone else has of their pocket.

Update March twenty sixth, 2021 5pm ET: Verizon introduced it could help 5G on the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro and OnePlus confirmed they won’t work on AT&T’s 5G community. The evaluation has been up to date to notice the brand new data.

Update July twenty seventh, 2021 4pm ET: OnePlus has said that regardless of its unique intention to take action, it received’t promote the bottom mannequin OnePlus 9 Pro in North America.