OnePlus 8T vs OnePlus 8 Pro vs OnePlus 8: What's the difference?

A six-month update cycle has long been the norm for OnePlus phones. This year, however, only the OnePlus 8 is getting a mid-cycle refresh in the form of the OnePlus 8T. Differences between the OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 8, and the OnePlus 8T are few, but significant, and it can be hard to figure out exactly which phone is the best one for you.

Let’s take a look at the key differences between the three phones in our OnePlus 8T vs OnePlus 8 Pro vs OnePlus 8 comparison.

Our verdict: OnePlus 8T review: Not enough to stand out

OnePlus 8T vs OnePlus 8 Pro vs OnePlus 8

Specs

Design

OnePlus tends to play around with the hardware design language every successive generation. The biggest changes usually appear on the back of the phone, and so is the case with this year’s mid-cycle refresh.

While the OnePlus 7T sported a circular camera module, the OnePlus 8 line-up switched it up to a centrally mounted camera strip.

Now, the OnePlus 8T rejigs it again with a camera module that is placed over on the top-left corner. It’s a good looking design that, unfortunately, looks a bit too inspired by Samsung phones.

With the pop-up selfie camera long gone since the OnePlus 7T Pro, a punch-hole camera is what you get on all three phones. However, there are differences on the display front as well.

To start with, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a 6.78-inch display compared to the 6.55-inch panels on the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8T. While all three phones have AMOLED displays, the key differences lie in resolution and refresh rate.

Read more: Refresh rate explained — What does 60Hz, 90Hz, or 120Hz mean?

In practice, the Quad HD resolution on the Pro variant isn’t a particularly noticeable upgrade over the Full HD+ panel on the other two devices. The OnePlus 8 series debuted with upgrades to the refresh rates on both phones — 120Hz on the OnePlus 8 Pro, 90Hz on the OnePlus 8.

Now, the OnePlus 8T has bumped up that high refresh rate all the way to 120Hz while retaining the same size and resolution. This adds an extra degree of fluidity to the interface. My favorite change, however, has to be the new flat display. I noticed that by getting rid of the curved edges, the OnePlus 8T is markedly better at avoiding false touches and untoward reflections.

Quality of construction has never been an issue on OnePlus hardware, and that continues to be the case across all three phones. All three devices are crafted out of glass with an aluminum mid-frame, and sport an alert slider on the right side in addition to the power button. The OnePlus 8 Pro, however, sets itself apart from the OnePlus 8 and 8T with its inclusion of an IP68 rating for waterproofing.

Features

No matter which phone you chose, performance should not be a concern as all three phones are powered by the same Snapdragon 865 chipset with up to 12GB of RAM as well as 128 or 256GB of storage.

Things get a bit more complicated when it comes to charging versatility. The OnePlus 8 Pro was the first OnePlus phone to debut fast 30W wireless charging, in addition to 30W wired charging. The OnePlus 8 too, supports 30W charging, but no wireless charging.

The OnePlus 8T exceeds both phones with the inclusion of blazing-fast 65W charging. In our tests, the phone topped off from scratch in a flat 39 minutes. This is a solid improvement over the 63 minutes taken by the OnePlus 8. The lack of wireless charging is a bummer though.

Similar to the OnePlus 8 Pro, the OnePlus 8T bumps up the battery to 4,500mAh from the 4,300mAh unit on the 8, and this should help mitigate the additional battery drain of the 120Hz panel.

Camera

The OnePlus 8 Pro is, predictably, the most feature-packed of the three phones when it comes to cameras. While the primary shooter across all three phones is a 48MP sensor, the Pro variant includes a dedicated 8MP telephoto lens and a high-resolution 48MP ultra-wide lens for detailed landscape shots. Finally, the Pro introduced a rather controversial 5MP color filter. This gimmicky sensor was disabled for a bit and then brought back in a reduced capacity.

Read more: The best Android camera phones you can get

The 8MP telephoto lens on the OnePlus 8 Pro delivers 3x optical zoom and the quality is markedly better than what you get via digital cropping on the OnePlus 8 and 8T. Performance between the OnePlus 8 and 8T is, however, largely similar with noticeably digital artifacts on close inspection.

While the OnePlus 8 Pro does not have a macro lens, it can shift focus on the ultrawide lens to capture close up shots. This can be a bit tricky to align, but affords the ability to capture very high-quality macro images.

The OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8T, on the other hand, sport dedicated macro lenses. I wasn’t too impressed by the images from the 2MP sensor on the OnePlus 8, but the 5MP camera on the 8T is a very obvious step up not just in specs, but also execution. There’s a good amount of detail here and the camera nails the exposure and white balance.

Both the OnePlus 8 Pro and the OnePlus 8 ship with 16MP front-facing cameras, but interestingly enough, the OnePlus 8 packs a brighter lens. With the OnePlus 8T, the company has made software improvements to the 16MP selfie shooter.

I was a bit bummed to see that the OnePlus 8T did not have the dual — wide and ultra-wide — camera setup from the budget OnePlus Nord, but the updated software does a much better job at capturing nicely detailed selfies though the HDR processing is still very aggressive and can lead to odd white balance.

Price

• OnePlus 8 Pro: $899/£899/Rs. 54,999
• OnePlus 8: $699/£549/Rs. 41,999
• OnePlus 8T: $749/£549/Rs. 42,999

The flagship of the group, the OnePlus 8 Pro is, understandably, the most expensive phone in the lineup. The additional $150 compared to the OnePlus 8T nets you an IP68 rating, larger and higher resolution display, additional telephoto lens and wireless charging which might be worth the cost to some.

Between the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8T, things are a bit more complicated. Sure, the additional $50 or Rs. 1000 for the OnePlus 8T gets you even faster charging, and a 120Hz display, but neither of those are an absolute must-have. Additionally, the camera set up is largely similar in daily use.

OnePlus 8T vs OnePlus 8 Pro vs OnePlus 8: Which should you buy?

Six months in, the OnePlus 8 Pro has received a number of updates that have fixed most of our lingering gripes with the hardware. In fact, the phone has already received the update to Android 11 as well, a testament to the company’s claims of delivering speed.

Meanwhile, the OnePlus 8T delivers some nice quality of life updates to the OnePlus 8, but the two phones are by and large very similar.

Spec-nerds will definitely appreciate the 65W charging and 120Hz display, but if you are looking for value, the OnePlus 8 is the way to go if you can find a good deal on it.

That’s it for our OnePlus 8T vs OnePlus 8 Pro vs OnePlus 8 comparison. Which phone do you think is the best buy?