OnePlus 7T Pro vs 8 in 2021: Is It Worth The Upgrade?

Introduction

So, the OnePlus 8 is pretty much a well-defined step up from the 7 Pro, but what does the 7T Pro has to say about that?

In April of 2020, OnePlus started selling its 8, while OnePlus's 7T Pro hit the stores in October of 2019.

We've run down the specs, design, price, and much more in this guide to help you choose between the 7T Pro and the 8.

The OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus 7T Pro are comparable in price. Still, you'll find the 7T Pro cheaper most of the time. Remember that when you're comparing the two models.

For each featured section, there's a "Tek-Score" for you to check. We evaluate all quantifiable specifications to help you quickly identify how much they are far apart. The global score will help you compare them to other phones if you aren't sure about these two.  ? 

That score is research-based. It's from Globalwebindex.com about what people want from their next smartphone. But you can customize how each section contributes to the global score according to your preferences. Click here to skip everything, but I suggest you keep reading to know more about them.

For additional information regarding our smartphone comparisons, check this FAQ.

You're going to find a red or green bar next to some features. That can help you understand how they rival its direct competitors.  ? 

You can click here:  i  to view the ones we're comparing to, but basically, we've excluded every smartphone that's not within a 20% (above or below) price range.

Some features are also shortcuts to the best 10 phones on that for every spending plan.

Price*			vs.
Device	7T Pro	8
Release Date	2019, October	2020, April	1y.
OS Updates	2 years	2 years	0y.
Security Updates	3 years	3 years	0y.

*Reference: 100: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Which One Has The Best Performance?

Geekbench 5 scores the 8 17% ahead of its sibling in the multi-core ranking. If you're a heavy gamer, think about this. If not, then it isn't a big deal.  ? 

We can classify the 7T Pro as a lower high-end and the 8 as high-end.

What about their chipsets? The OnePlus 8 features the previous generation's Snapdragon 865 processor and the OnePlus 7T Pro, the Snapdragon 855+ processor.

If you play heavy games on your phone, you should know that the former has last year's Adreno 650, while the latter has an Adreno 640.

Both phones run on Android 10 and OxygenOS 10 out of the box.

Performance*			vs.
Features	7T Pro	8
SoC	Snapdragon 855+	Snapdragon 865
Graphics	Adreno 640	Adreno 650
Geekbench 5 Score	2698	3165	467
OS	Android 10 and OxygenOS 10	Android 10 and OxygenOS 10
Tek-Score	6.5	7.3	0.8

*Reference: 100: Apple iPhone 12.

Which Phone Has The Best Display?

The 8 is the title-holder here, and the difference is considerable.

While the 8 got a 6.5-inch AMOLED display, the 7T Pro got a larger AMOLED display with 6.6-inches. You'll likely have set your preferences already on the display type and size. To me, a 6.3 inches screen is where I draw the line.

The 7T Pro benefits from a higher resolution, at 1440x3120 pixels, while the 8 has 1080x2400 pixels.

It's better to be safe than sorry, so it's essential to know what kind of glass protection they have. Both displays are protected with a Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

Unfortunately, only one of them has an Always-On display, and it's the OnePlus 8.

If you don't manually set the screen brightness, you can count on the 7T Pro to go up to 600 nits, while the 8 goes up to 802 nits.  ? 

Very few rivals share this maximum brightness. Usually, they rarely stay far from 757 nits, but the 7T Pro can only do 21% below that.

Both phones do support HDR10+ videos.

If you're looking for high refresh rate displays, you're lucky because both feature a 90hz screen.

Considering the 7T Pro, 90% of its rivals can play HDR content, and 95% have an AMOLED screen and have an Always-On display.

Considering the 8, as a reference, 88% of its rivals can play HDR content. Plus, all have an AMOLED screen, and 92% have an Always-On display.

Display Density (DPIs)*			vs.
Features	7T Pro	8
Size	6.6	6.5	-0.1
Screen Type	AMOLED	AMOLED
Resolution (px)	1440x3120	1080x2400	-1900800
Refresh Rate	90hz	90hz	0
Dots per Inch	520.65	404.89	-115.75
Always-On-Display	No	Yes
Notch	No/Clean	Hole
Peak Brightness	600 nits	802 nits	202
HDR	HDR10+	HDR10+
Sub Tek-Score	4.1	8.7	4.7
Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 5	Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Tek-Score	5.0	6.7	1.6

*Reference: 100: Sony Xperia 1 II.

Which Phone Has The Best Cameras?

You should get similar performance with these two in the camera domain.

Flip the phones over, let's start the cameras' battle. Together, a whopping 48 Megapixels sensor, an aperture of f/1.6, a 26mm wide-angle lens, two flash LEDs, HDR capabilities, and Optical Image Stabilization makes up the 7T Pro camera set. Adding to that, you'll still get the ability to record videos at up to 2160p.

It also features two auxiliary cameras. One has 8 Megapixels with an aperture of f/2.4, plus a 74mm telephoto lens. And another shooter with 16 Megapixels (f/2.2) with a 13mm ultra-wide-angle lens.

Do you really need a 48 Megapixels camera? Did you know you can zoom in and crop those photos to simulate optical zoom? That's how you can get (for example) an additional 2x of optical zoom and a 12 Megapixels sample.

Want to know about its selfie capabilities? It has a 16 MP pop-up (f/2.0) shooter and a 25 mm wide-angle lens.

DXOMARK reviewed this camera and gave it 116 points. If you also consider the telephoto and wide-angle lenses, it can go up to 129** points. If you want to know more about it, click here.

Before moving on, you'd probably like to know that all of its rivals can record videos in 4K or more, have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and feature Optical Image Stabilization. Yet, only 19% of them feature a macro lens.

The OnePlus 8, in its turn, features a whopping 48 Megapixels camera with an f/1.8 aperture and a 25mm, wide-angle lens. Then it has two flash LEDs, HDR capabilities, and Optical Image Stabilization. It records videos at up to 2160p. It also has a secondary dual-lens camera. One of them features an aperture of f/2.2 plus a 14mm ultra-wide-angle lens and 16 Megapixels, and the other 2 Megapixels for macros.

Just so you know: You can take a 48 Megapixels photo, zoom in and crop, and get 2x optical zoom. You'll get a 12 Megapixels photo, just like the 7T Pro.

You can get selfies with 16 MP Megapixels. It has a lens with f/2.0 of aperture and a 1/3" sensor.

This sensor does deserve a review from DXOMARK's team. Knowing them, it'll get about 111* points. Plus, combining with its wide-angle lens, this score goes up to 122** points.

Finally, just like the other device, all of its rivals can record videos in 4 or 8K, have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and feature Optical Image Stabilization. Additionally, only 12% of them feature a macro lens.

One can place these two as lower high-end.

What I really like about the 7T Pro is the 2.8x telephoto lens. It enables you to zoom in on the subject without ruining your photos.

*DXOMARK knows how to test these shooters out. Unfortunately, they don't test every smartphone camera out there. So what do I do? I try to do my best by giving a similar score based on hardware specs only (OIS, Sensor size, Aperture, Lenses, HDR, and so on). As of now, you can expect a deviation of up to 2 points.  ? 

**Consider this as an estimative, especially with cameras with less than 40MP and no telephoto lens. They moved to a better camera test protocol, and there aren't enough reviewed cameras to extrapolate a backward-compatible score.

Picture Quality*			vs.
Primary Camera	7T Pro	8
Megapixels	48	48	0
Aperture	1.6	1.8	0.2
Lens	26mm	25mm	-1
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Wide-Angle
Flash	2	2	0
HDR	Yes	Yes
OIS	Yes	Yes
Video	2160	2160	0
Score	129	122	-7

*Reference: 100: Huawei Mate 40 Pro.

Extra Camera(s)	7T Pro	8	vs.
Megapixels	8	16	8
Aperture	2.4	2.2	-0.2
Lens	74mm (2.8x zoom)	14mm	-60
Lens Type	Telephoto lens	Ultra-wide-Angle
Megapixels	16	2	-14
Aperture	2.2	2.4	0.2
Lens	13mm	-
Lens Type	Ultra-wide-Angle	Macro
Score	13	11	-2

Selfie Camera	7T Pro	8	vs.
Megapixels	0	16	16
Aperture	2.0	2.0	0.0
Lens	25mm	-

	7T Pro	8	vs.
Tek-Score	7.6	7.2	-0.4

Who has the best frame?

The 8 does win some points here, mainly for its weight and the number of color options. But that doesn't make the 7T Pro that much worse.

The 7T Pro is 162 mm (6.38 inches) tall and 75 mm (2.96 inches) wide. OnePlus's 8 is a bit smaller, precisely 2 mm (0.08 inches), and a bit narrower too, about 3 mm (0.12 inches).

Both are 8 mm thicker (about 0.32 inches).

Both have a premium feeling thanks to their glass body. The 8 weighs 180 g. (6.35 oz), while its sibling is 26 g. (0.92 oz) heavier. If you're looking for a lightweight device, the "weight to display size" score of the 7T Pro is 3.7, which implies it's kind of weighty for a 6.6 inches display. The 8, in its turn, has 6.2, which is pretty nice.  ? 

We do like having some color options. You get Haze Blue and a unique McLaren Edition in the 7T Pro. But you can get Onyx Black, Interstellar Glow, Glacial Green, and Polar Silver with the 8.

If you like having a big phone, you should consider the 7T Pro. Otherwise, the other one is more or less the same here.

Would you like to have a fingerprint scanner? Both phones include one.

If you want waterproofness on your next device, check out the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.

Looks*			vs.
Body	7T Pro	8
Size	162 x 75 x 8 mm (5.71 x 2.65 x 0.28 in)	160 x 72 x 8 mm (5.64 x 2.54 x 0.28 in)	-5040
Weight	206 g. (7.27 oz)	180 g. (6.35 oz)	-26
Build	Front and back glass	Front and back glass
Colors	Haze Blue and a unique McLaren Edition	Onyx Black, Interstellar Glow, Glacial Green, and Polar Silver
Screen To Body Ratio	88.01%	88.55%	0.54
Disp.Size To Weight Score	3.7	6.2	2.5
Looks	9.1/10	10.0/10	0.8
Waterproof	-	-
Biometrics	Under Display Fingerprint	Under Display Fingerprint
Tek-Score	1.9	2.9	1.0

*100% = 4+ colors + front and back glass + S2BR: 86+%.

Which has the best battery?

The 7T Pro does have a smaller battery, with 4085 mAh, while the 8 has 4300 mAh. But by GSMArena's standards, both should theoretically get the same battery life.

This is how the 7T Pro performs after a full charge:  ? 

• After 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you should have 84% of the battery left for the rest of the day.
• After 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll probably have 69% left for the rest of the day.
• For 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, you'll still get 73% to spend doing other things.

And these are the results for the 8:

• For 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll have 85% of the battery remaining.
• For 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll still have 71% left for the rest of the day.
• For 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, you'll likely end up with 74% of the battery charge.

What's even better, both of them also don't have many rivals at any given price range. Just check out our top 10 list with the best battery life.

If you thought charging speeds would help you pick one of these, they both do 30w.

Wireless charging is nowhere to be found. Keep that in mind. But if you really want it, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE features wireless charging. It even supports reverse wireless charging too.

Battery*			vs.
Features	7T Pro	8
Capacity (mAh)	4085	4300	215
1h Talk + 1h Web + 1h Video	84% left	85% left	1
1h Talk + 3h Web + 1h Video	69% left	71% left	2
1h Talk + 1h Web + 3h Video	73% left	74% left	1
Bat. To Phone Size Score  ?	4.0	5.6	1.6
Sub Tek-Score	7.5	7.7	0.1
Fast Charging	30w	30w	0
Wireless Charging	No	No	0
Tek-Score	6.6	6.7	0.1

*Reference: 90: Samsung Galaxy A31.

Which has more storage?

Definitely, the 7T Pro.

OnePlus put 8GB of RAM and 256GB of built-in storage on the 7T Pro. There's no expandable storage, but I believe you can manage with just 256GB of storage. I should also mention that most rivals have less storage but more RAM. They're closer to 146Gb of storage and 8GB of RAM.

The 8 offers 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. There's also no expandable storage here, but I believe 128GB is enough.

Storage*			vs.
Features	7T Pro	8
RAM (GB)	8GB	8GB	0
Internal (GB)	256GB	128GB	-128
Micro SD	No	No
Tek-Score	8.5	6.0	-2.5

*Internal Storage + 256GB Memory Card (Max: 512GB).

Which is the most connectivity-friendly?

I'd go for the 8 if you really value Bluetooth 5.1 and 5G.

Surprisingly, there's a difference here: The 7T Pro features Bluetooth 5.0, but the 8 has Bluetooth 5.1. Both phones have NFC.

If you love good-old wired headphones, you're out of luck because none of them included a 3.5mm headphone jack. You can try an adapter if you want, but the wireless buds are the way to go here. You can also check other devices if you're not really leaning towards any of these. You'd have to pick a smartphone like the Sony Xperia 1 II.

The 8 runs on (LTE and) 5G networks.

Connectivity			vs.
Features	7T Pro	8
Network	LTE	5G
Bluetooth	5.0	5.1
NFC	Yes	Yes
3.5mm jack	No	No
Tek-Score	3.6	5.1	1.5

Which is more affordable?

The OnePlus 7T Pro definitely has its sibling beaten on price, and with the right deal, it can be an impressive finding. You'll most likely find the OnePlus 8 at a higher price range, but it doesn't mean it can't be a great deal.

You can check down below if it worths the extra cash.

Here are their recently updated prices:

Reference: $560

$540.00

Check now

Check now

$599.95

OnePlus 7T Pro

Reference: $630

$799.00

$686.99

Check now

$612.97

OnePlus 8

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Prices marked with ! are from renewed/refurbished/carrier-locked phones (except eBay prices that, as a last resort, can be from bids or used devices).

How much of a "phone" can your money buy?
That's how much "score" you can get with $100 based on the global score that you'll see in the next section (higher is better).

Have you found better prices elsewhere? The formula is simple: score/price*100.

Also, don't forget to check the latest deals from these four stores, and the state of the art on mobile technology, if you don't want to overpay on your next smartphone.

Related articles:

Best smartphone deals

The Best Unbiased Smartphones For All Budgets

Smartphone Specs Statistics: The State Of The Art (Q1 2021)

Are you ready for that final score? We're almost there. Just so you have an idea, take a look at where its adversaries average. The 7T Pro class is at 6.8, and the 8 6.9.

Verdict: Does any of them really stand out?

Ah-ha! The 7T Pro won't let it go that easy.

You'll probably love it for its storage, and you know what? Despite being somewhat slower, it isn't slow at all, and you can get by another year without the Always-On display and the newer Bluetooth version, you'll get to keep (or win) a great set of cameras.

What's even better, it's price will always be lower.

You'll have to get familiar with a hefty device. Aside from that, there's not much more for you on the OnePlus 8.

Pros	7T Pro	8
#1	Performance	Performance
#2	AMOLED	AMOLED
#3	Cameras	Always-On-Display
#4	Battery Life	Cameras
#5	Fast Charging	Battery Life
#6	Storage	Fast Charging

Cons	7T Pro	8
#1	Always-On-Display	Wireless Charging
#2	Wireless Charging	MicroSD Slot
#3	MicroSD Slot	3.5mm Jack
#4	Weight	Price
#5	3.5mm Jack
#6	Price

Relative Score*			vs.
Global Score	7T Pro	8
Gaming Score	7.6	7.2	-0.4
Tek-Score	6.45	6.48	0.03
Your Score

Scroll the sliders down below to get your own personalized score. Let's suppose you value performance and battery life, and you don't really care about anything else. Then, just set the "Performance" and the "Battery" sliders up to 5 (5+5=10), and then the other sliders down to 0. You'll know what's the best phone for you.

*Reference: 100: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

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