OnePlus 8 Pro Vs Samsung Galaxy S20+: Design, Display, Camera, Hardware And Software Specifications

Is OnePlus 8 Pro The Best Android Smartphone?

True to its 'Pro' moniker, the OnePlus 8 Pro picks up a fight with segment winners such as the iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro, and the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S20/S20+. That said, today we are comparing the on-paper specifications of the OnePlus 8 Pro with the Samsung Galaxy S20+. Let's find out which handset offers better on-paper specifications.

Design: OnePlus 8 Pro Is The Company’s First IP68 Certified Smartphone

Till date, OnePlus devices failed to offer any official protection against water and dust. Thankfully, this changes with the new OnePlus 8-series launch. I was delighted to hear that the company has finally equipped its flagship product with the official IP-rating for water-dust protection.

Like the Samsung Galaxy S20+, the OnePlus 8 Pro is IP68 rated for protection against water and dust. The handset can survive in 1.5 meters of fresh water for up to 30 minutes, which means you can now take some dramatic underwater shots. The smartphone is crafted out of metal and glass and weighs 199g. It has a thickness of 8.50mm.

On the contrary, the Galaxy S20+, which is also made out of metal and glass measures 7.80mm in thickness and weighs 186 grams. The numbers suggest that the OnePlus 8 Pro is a bigger and bulkier device than the Galaxy S20+; however, ergonomics also play a big role and can sometimes result in better handling despite a bigger and bulkier footprint. Having said that, we would like to reserve our verdict on the design part until we get our hands on the OnePlus 8 Pro.

As far as color variants are concerned, the OnePlus 8 Pro will be made available in Glacial Green, Onyx Black, and Ultra marine Blue, whereas the Galaxy S20+ is available in Cloud Blue, Cosmic Grey, and Cosmic Black.

Display: Battle Of 120H QHD+ AMOLED Panels

Samsung is undoubtedly the display leader in the market but OnePlus has made some bold claims on the OnePlus 8 Pro's display quality and performance. The company claims that the OnePlus 8 Pro offers the best display on a flagship handset. The AMOLED panel is essentially sourced from Samsung which went through color calibration and refresh rate treatment to produce more realistic colors and fluid touch response.

Unlike the Samsung Galaxy S20+ screen, which can only be driven at 120Hz refresh rate with 1080p resolution, you can run the OnePlus 8 Pro's display on 120Hz refresh rate at full resolution, i.e. QHD+ (1440p). OnePlus integrated the latest dedicated Iris 5 visual processor to beat Samsung in its own game.

Talking numbers, both the handsets flaunt 120Hz refresh rate AMOLED displays with QHD+ resolution. The OnePlus 8 Pro sports a 6.78-inch (1,440 x 3,168 pixels) Fluid AMOLED screen that offers 513ppi pixel density, and comes in 19.8:9 aspect ratio.

The Samsung Galaxy S20+, on the other hand, flaunts a 6.7-inch QHD+ (1,440x3,200 pixels) Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, with slight higher 525ppi pixel density and wider 20:9 aspect ratio. Both the panels support HDR10+ and offer 240Hz touch sampling rate.

Overall, the OnePlus 8 Pro has an upper hand in the on-paper display specifications. Whether these numbers translate to better real-life performance is something we will analyze in our comprehensive review of the handset.

Camera- Battle Of Quad-Lens Camera Setups

OnePlus has always been criticized for its devices' underwhelming camera performance. The company plans to change it with the OnePlus 8 Pro. The smartphone flaunts a quad-lens camera setup featuring a 48MP f/1.78 primary sensor, an 8MP f/2.4 telephoto lens, another 48MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle camera, and at last a 5MP colour filter sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The camera setup offers a 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom.

The handset shoots 12MP pixel-binned shots by default. The video recording capability maxes out at 4K 60fps. Upfront, the OnePlus 8 Pro sports a 16MP selfie camera that works on a narrower f/2.45 aperture.On the other hand, the Galaxy S20+ follows a very different camera approach. It also offers a quad-lens camera setup but features a 12MP f/1.8 wide-angle lens with Dual Pixel PDAF and OIS support. It is accompanied by a 64 MP telephoto lens with PDAF support.

The 1/1.72" sensor with an f/2.0 aperture offers 3x hybrid optical zoom. There's another 12MP lens but of ultrawide nature with narrow f/2.2 aperture. This 13mm ultrawide lens offers support for super steady videos. The last lens in the camera array is a 0.3 MP, TOF 3D depth sensor with an f/1.0 aperture.

On papers, the Galaxy S20+ beats the OnePlus 8 Pro in video recording game as it can record videos in insane 8K and also allows you to fetch 33MP images from the footage. The smartphone also shoots videos in 4K 30/60fps. For selfies, the Galaxy S20+ flaunts a 10MP sensor that delivers excellent results.

Overall, both the smartphones offer capable camera hardware but we couldn't tell which one wins the game. You can read about the Galaxy S20+ camera performance in our review. We would request you to wait for our OnePlus 8 Pro review to know more about the real-life camera performance of the handset.

Hardware: Flagship Chipsets, Oodles of RAM, Powerful GPUs

There's no shortage of firepower on both the flagship smartphones. In addition to fluid 120Hz refresh rate panels, both the handsets are powered by the best-in-class processors paired with up to 12GB of RAM for lag-free computing and multitasking performance. The Samsung Galaxy S20+ is powered by the Exynos 990 SoC in India. The smartphone is available with Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 in some regions, the same SoC that powers the OnePlus 8 Pro.

As far as internal storage is concerned, you have the option to buy the Galaxy S20+ with 512GB onboard storage. You can also use a microSD card to further expand the storage to up to 1TB. The OnePlus 8 Pro lacks microSD card support and its higher variant only offers a max 256GB onboard storage. Having said that, the Galaxy S20+ is the right choice if you like to store gigabytes of data on your handset.

Software- OxygenOS vs OneUI

The OxygenOS needs no introduction and is easily the best custom Android skin after stock Android. We cannot wait to test the new OnePlus 8 Pro as it ships with the latest OxygenOS which has over 280 optimizations, new dark theme, new dynamic wallpapers and a lot more going for it. On the other hand, Samsung has also shown some amazing software improvements with the new OneUI.

The Galaxy S20+ runs on the latest OneUI 2.1 with April security patch. The feature-packed user interface is visually appealing and works without any glitches.

Battery And Fast-Charging

The Galaxy S20+ is backed by a 4,500mAH battery cell which is complemented by 25W fast charging. The smartphone supports fast wireless charging standard 2.0 and also features reverse wireless charging feature.

The OnePlus 8 Pro beats the Galaxy S20+ by packing a slightly bigger battery cell, i.e. 4,510mAh but with support of Warp Charge 30T fast charging and Warp Charge 30 wireless charging. In short, the OnePlus 8 Pro takes less time in charging, both in wired and in the wireless state.

The 4,500mAh battery cell on the Galaxy S20+ cannot last you a full day even with moderate usage if you are running the screen on 120Hz. The bundled 25W charger can recharge the battery from 1% to 100% in about 63 minutes, which is pretty good but the OnePlus 8 Pro will offer faster-charging speeds. We will evaluate the real-life battery performance of the OnePlus 8 Pro in our detailed review.

Which One You Should Buy?

OnePlus finally has a true flagship smartphone that can challenge the likes of Samsung and Apple's premium handsets. The pricing is definitely on a higher side but that was expected, thanks to the additional features like official IP rating and wireless charging. The camera performance is another aspect where OnePlus has promised significant improvements.

I believe the real challenge for the OnePlus starts with the OnePlus 8-series, especially with the OnePlus 8 Pro. The fight now is not for the flagship features but for the brand value and trust among the consumers. On one side you have a six-year-old smartphone brand that knows its audience very well and offers fantastic products. On the other, you have veterans (Samsung and Apple) that offer legacy products developed with years of expertise and have a certain trust among the masses.

Would you invest in the new OnePlus handset that cost as much as a premium iPhone or a flagship Galaxy smartphone, or just put your money on products from the industry leaders? Let us know in comments and stay tuned for our comprehensive review of the OnePlus 8 Pro.