The OnePlus 9 Pro indicates that OnePlus still values high-end devices, even though it has been diversifying its portfolio in recent years. Despite the OnePlus 9 being a disappointment, the OnePlus 9 Pro remains the company’s only competitive representative in a shrinking smartphone market.
OnePlus’ mantra remains the same: to pack all the high-end features in at a fraction of the cost of the big guys.
OnePlus 9 Pro Review: What you need know
The OnePlus 9 Pro looks quite attractive when compared to the new phones from Apple or Samsung. The OnePlus 9 Pro’s 6.7-inch AMOLED display is comparable to the iPhone 12 Pro Max or the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 silicon is the fastest and most potent available. It also offers a similar offering as its main competitors when it comes to cameras. There are ultrawide and 3.3 x Telephoto cameras that supplement the primary camera. You can also play with a 2MP monochrome camera, but it’s not something you will use often.
The OnePlus 9 Pro is a complete package with super-fast 65W wired charging and 50W wireless charging, IP68 dust resistance, 5G capability, and 50W wireless charging.
Review of OnePlus 9 Pro: Design and key features
Although the OnePlus 9 Pro is a smartphone, you can also say the same about other smartphones in the upper echelon. It has nothing special.
The OnePlus 8 Pro’s central traffic lights arrangement on the rear is more appealing, but I prefer the rounded camera rectangle. Each lens is also trimmed in chrome. The Hasselblad branding adds a certain je ne sais quoi, too.
The upgrade gods don’t give up on the one hand. I’m not a fan of the glossy new finish that picks up fingerprints much too quickly. The good news about the black model is that it has a matte finish. Buy the flat version if you plan to purchase one.
The 9 Pro, despite this niggle, is one of the most beautiful OnePlus phones to date. The Pine Green version comes with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, while the Morning Mist and Stellar Black performances come with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.
There are many other things to love here. The three-position do not disturb switch is a favourite of mine. It allows you to quickly silence your phone or set it to vibrate only without using the touchscreen. It is located on the right side, just above the power button. The volume rocker can be found on the opposite side.
The phone’s only front camera is visible from the other side of the phone, behind a hole-punched notch at the top left corner. The display’s bottom also hides an optical fingerprint reader.
The OnePlus 9 Pro doesn’t have a microSD card slot nor a 3.5mm headset jack. However, these are minor issues. The OnePlus 9 Pro is IP68 water-resistance and NFC for contactless payments. It also has 65W wired charging, 50W wireless charge and reverse charging to recharge your true wireless headphones.
If you live in an area with strong 5G signals, you will be able to get 5G support.
OnePlus 9 Pro review: Display
The OnePlus 9 Pro is a little shorter than its predecessor, thanks to a smaller display. The diagonal measures 6.7in wide, compared to 6.78in. This is a small change, but it’s still a significant one. The resolution of 3,216 x 1,440 has a pixel density 525ppi.
The OnePlus 8 Pro has an AMOLED panel that is perfect in contrast. It can run at a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and adapts automatically to your needs to conserve battery. Although I didn’t notice any difference in stamina, you can change the display resolution to FHD+ (1.080×2,340).
It’s also a decent display. It has a brightness of 470cd/m2 for day-to-day usage, which is good but not enough for brighter days. The peak is 763cd/m2 when you playback HDR material. Colour accuracy is amazing.
There are many colour options available for OnePlus phones. These range from AMOLED Wide Gamut to Natural. When you are watching HDR video, I recommend that you choose sRGB from Advanced. This is the most accurate model for web browsing. Vivid delivers the most extensive range of colours, around 83% of DCI-P3’s colour space.
OnePlus 9 Pro review: Performance
The Snapdragon 888 is the most powerful mobile silicon Qualcomm offers, as the OnePlus latest flagship shows. It’s an eight-core SoC that runs at speeds between 1.8GHz to 2.84GHz. It was manufactured using a 5nm manufacturing method. The handset also features an Adreno660 GPU, X605G modem, and 12GB of system RAM. There is also 256GB storage. Base model comes with 8GB.
Performance is comparable to the other Snapdragon 888 phones, the Xiaomi Mi 11 (which we haven’t seen), and the Asus ROG Phone 5(GFXbench failed to recognise the 120Hz display – so the offscreen score is a better indicator of performance. It is close to the Samsung Galaxy S21 range (tested using the Exynos 2100), but trails behind the iPhone 12 phones.
The OnePlus 9 Pro, like the Xiaomi Mi 11, did not have the best battery life. The OnePlus 9 Pro lasted 17 hours and 18 minutes in our video rundown test, where we set the brightness to a preset level and activate flight mode, before looping a video until it died. This is disappointingly worse than the OnePlus 8 Pro.
It is also slower than the OnePlus 9, at 21h 53mins, and the Asus ROG Phone 5, at 23h 43mins. It’s still durable enough to last a day of moderate usage.
The good news is that the charging process – wired and wireless, is lightning fast. A 65W charger comes in the box, which charges the battery from 0 to complete in 28 minutes. The OnePlus 50W wireless charger costs PS70 and will charge your battery up to complete in just 43 minutes. The charger gets hot so fans are needed that make the phone spin when it’s dropped. It’s not the best choice for your bedside table.
OnePlus 9 Pro review: Cameras
OnePlus’s camera partnership with Hasselblad Pro-Camera Manufacturer is a great opportunity to shine with its latest phones. The three-year agreement is with the Swedish camera company. In the first year, the emphasis is on colour tuning, software, and not anything revolutionary on the hardware side.
The OnePlus 9 Pro features a stunning array of cameras at its rear, including the Hasselblad branding.
Main camera is a 48MP f/1.8 Sony IMX789 unit. It has a sensor size 1/1.43in by a pixel size 1.12um. You also get a 50MP (not a typo!) f/2.2 ultrawide Sony IMX766 cam, a 3.3x8MP f/2.4 telephoto and a 2MP monochrome Sony IMX471 camera.
These cameras, like most smartphones today, output images at a lower resolution than the native 16MP by default. You will need to switch to Hasselblad Pro mode if you want to see the full 48MP and 50MP images from the main and ultrawide camera.
This mode is a modified version of the OnePlus Pro mode. This mode is easier to use, as the video resolution switcher can now be accessed from the camera UI, and not hidden in a menu setting. Other than the Hasselblad orange shutter button, it’s otherwise very standard. You can also use the tilt-shift mode to take photos, but this is something you could do with some creative editing.
It’s all about the images that the camera can capture. This is where the important thing is. The colour differences between cameras have been a problem that the Hasselblad partnership has solved. This has been a problem that OnePlus cameras have had to deal with in the past. Colours are now more consistent from shot to shot and camera to camera.
The 50MP ultrawide camera produces stunning images with excellent detail and high levels of contrast. It is far superior to the comparison shots that I captured with my iPhone 12 Pro Max. The camera’s “free-form” lens prevents distracting distortion at a surprisingly low level. However, you can still see stretching taking place around the corners and edges of images.
The shots that I have taken with the main camera of the OnePlus 9 Pro are great. The exposure, contrast and detail levels have all been excellent, both in low and high light. You can get close enough to the action with the 3.3x optical zoom without having to magnify it. Quality is also quite good in this case, beating even the iPhone 12 Pro Max that I compared.
There are small issues with OnePlus phones as they always seem to be. Some shots show shadows that look distinctly blue in places, when they should be grey. In others, the mid-tones take on a slightly magenta tint.
A photograph of magnolia blooms against a blue background showed some odd-looking graininess in the branches. This was a strange HDR artifact, I suspect. Portrait mode is great for isolating the subject and creating a pleasing background blur. However, it does not smoothen out the skin texture enough.
Video is the final option. This video is also quite impressive. You can shoot at either 8K 30fps, or 4K 60fps. Or, if your preference is, at 4K at 120fps. The footage is rich in detail and stands up to the iPhone 12 Pro Max in quality. Although stabilisation isn’t as seamless, you can’t have everything.
Overall, the OnePlus 9 Pro’s cameras are impressive – they’re the best OnePlus has ever produced – but even Hasselblad’s assistance, there’s still much to be done to match the best.
OnePlus 9 Pro review: Verdict
However, you might not care too much about it when you get a top-end phone for a fraction of the price. The OnePlus 9 Pro is a flagship phone that offers many of the same features as its main competitors, but without the high-end price tag.
It doesn’t lack features. It delivers all you would expect from a flagship smartphone, including the excellent display, wireless charging and fast wired charging.
While many phones offer the same thing – the latest smartphone silicon in a lower-priced package, none of them can match the OnePlus 9 Pro.
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