OnePlus has only briefly made it to our shores and that was quite a while ago thanks to the blip on the radar that is the Australian market to most manufacturers. Since then though they have moved forward in leaps and bounds becoming one of the bigger, more recognisable smartphone manufacturers in the world.
During the pandemic, their parent company BBK Electronics, decided to consolidate their companies thus bringing OnePlus closer to the fold, merging them in with OPPO with OPPO now have a controlling interest. Note: BBK Electronics also own realme, Vivo and iQOO along with OnePlus and OPPO. Hopefully this new addition of OnePlus into the OPPO fold will bring their presence to Australia. Why is that you ask? Because they are as close to being an enthusiasts Android brand as you can get – even more than the Pixels from Google are.
Their software developers are headed up by former custom ROM makers and many of their staff are smartphone enthusiasts first and foremost. If they can bring their smartphones to Australia this year, there will undoubtedly be a lot of customers lining up to purchase one. It is for this reason that we should sit up and pay attention to their new phone announced overnight, the OnePlus 10 Pro.
OnePlus 10 Pro
OnePlus smartphones have always offered high end specs at decent prices and this year looks set to be no different with the OnePlus 10 Pro offering some of the best components around. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform chipset paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
The battery is a massive 5,000mAh but the best part about the battery is its ability to charge at 80W thanks to OPPO’s SuperVOOC Flash charging. But wait, there’s more! The battery will also support 50W AirVOOC wireless charging – yes, 50W wireless charging and I can tell you, having used it there are no issues at all with heat dissipation or overheating of either the charger or the phone.
The camera builds on last year’s collaboration with Hasselblad, this time paired with a 48MP main lens, a 50MP 150-degree ultrawide camera and an 8MP telephoto camera. Overall, the camera is capable of shooting in full 10-bit colour resulting in an increase in colour gamut coverage. It also supports 12-bit RAW shooting while retaining OnePlus’ computational photography enhancements and noise removal. The software and computational photography have once again been improved and hopefully with a bit of influence from OPPO its real-world imaging can match its on-paper promise.
The display was one of the best features of last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro and this year OnePlus has included an even better display. The display is a 6.7-inch QHD+ panel with a refresh rate of 120Hz with LTPO technology that allows for the refresh rate to be adjusted based on the requirement at the time (ie. what is on the display). The display is calibrated to deliver accurate, natural colours on a consistent basis.
The software experience on a OnePlus phone has always been second only to the Pixel experience – with many placing it above the smartphones from the maker of Android. The software this year will once again be OxygenOS from OnePlus based on Android 12 but it will be interesting to see how much influence OPPO and their less-than-ideal ColorOS has on OxygenOS given the new pecking order and the fact that the two companies merged their software codebase last year.
All of the above are packed into a great looking phone with aluminium frame and rear glass panel, designed to look sleek and stylish and feel comfortable in the hand. The OnePlus 10 Pro will be available in a standard Volcanic Black colour and a stunning Emerald Forest colourway.
Look for it to go on sale in China on January 13 with other countries around the world following in the coming months. Hopefully this year, thanks to OPPO, OnePlus make it Downunder.
