The OnePlus 10 Pro is the latest budget-friendly flagship smartphone in the market. As the direct follow-up of 2021’s OnePlus 9 Pro, the 10 Pro offers a couple of upgrades from its predecessor. Its new rear camera system, one camera less than the 9 Pro, is arguably the most noticeable hardware change. Under the hood, however, the OnePlus 10 Pro boasts new camera modes and an upgraded chipset that should entice 9 Pro users to switch. But are these changes enough? Below, we cover the OnePlus 10 Pro vs OnePlus 9 Pro match-up.
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Oneplus 10 Pro vs OnePlus 9 Pro Comparison Chart
Design
The OnePlus 10 Pro is similar in design to the OnePlus 9 Pro. Where the two phones differ is in their rear camera array.
Looking at the front, it’s hard to tell the difference between the OnePlus 10 Pro and the OnePlus 9 Pro. Both brandish a large 6.7-inch fluid AMOLED display with minimal bezels. The front, punch-hole cameras are similarly placed near the top-left corner, too. But if you’re being fussy, the 10 Pro’s side buttons are now further apart than the 9 Pro’s.
OnePlus’s top-tier phones also feature similar display resolutions at 1440 x 3216p and a 20:9 ratio. There are no changes to the screen refresh rate, too, with both offering 120 Hz. Like almost every flagship smartphone these days, there is no headphone jack in sight. However, turn the phones back, and you’ll see the biggest design difference between the two.
The OnePlus 10 Pro’s camera system occupies a larger area of the phone’s back. On the OnePlus 9 Pro, the lenses are enclosed within a narrower, vertical panel. Meanwhile, the new model houses its cameras in a squarish panel, one that bleeds to the edge of the device.
You can get the 10 Pro in two colors โ Emerald Forest and Volcanic Black. The latter variant brings a sleeker and darker look to the smartphone lineup compared to the 9 Pro’s silver-esque Morning Mist. Meanwhile, the 9 Pro’s Pine Green shares a similar gradient to the 10 Pro’s Emerald Forest model.
Camera
While one camera less, the OnePlus 10 Pro further refines its image and video-taking capability to edge out the OnePlus 9 Pro.
Despite being the latest iteration, the OnePlus 10 Pro has one camera less than its predecessor. The new phone dropped the OnePlus 9 Pro’s 2MP monochrome camera, a lens criticized for making no difference in photo quality. As such, the 10 Pro is an exercise in focus, one that removes hardware bloat.
Instead, the 10 Pro offers a triple rear camera similar to the 9 Pro’s, minus the monochrome lens. First, you’re getting a 48MP main camera with an ฦ/1.8 aperture. The 8MP telephoto lens is still present and boasts a 3.3 optical zoom like its predecessor. Lastly, the 10 Pro offers a 50MP ultrawide camera but with a new sensor. OnePlus shares the ultrawide provides a 150-degree field-of-view but can be narrowed to 110-degrees, a range closer to what the 9 Pro offers.
The OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro are the first OnePlus phones to feature cameras designed in partnership with Hasselblad. According to OnePlus, the Swedish camera manufacturer was in charge of color tuning. On the 10 Pro, OnePlus combines its own Billion Color Solution with Hasselblad’s color science, allowing the phone to shoot in 10-bit color.
Like its predecessor, the 10 Pro camera boasts several features, including cat/dog face focus, panorama, nightscape, and a manual movie mode. But the phone also comes with a second-generation Hasselblad Pro Mode that shoots 12-bit RAW files. For professional and hobbyist photographers, the upgraded mode should make editing images better.
Performance
The OnePlus 10 Pro performs better than the OnePlus 9 Pro.
As expected, OnePlus equips its latest flagship with an upgraded chipset. The OnePlus 10 Pro runs on Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the successor to the Snapdragon 888 chip used by the OnePlus 9 Pro. This gives the 10 Pro a decided advantage when it comes to speed and efficiency. Qualcomm also shares that its 8 Gen 1 is the company’s most advanced 5G platform yet.
Based on benchmark testing, the OnePlus 10 Pro’s eight-core chip performs better, with a 1259 single-core score and a 4189 multi-core score. In contrast, the OnePlus 9 Pro received a 1037 single-core score and a 3310 multi-core score. While both chipsets support 5G, the OnePlus 9 Pro’s 5G bands are not compatible with all major US carriers.
The 10 Pro is available in 128GB and 256GB models, with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM. However, the 12GB is currently available only outside the US. Meanwhile, the 9 Pro comes in either 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
Battery and Other Features
The OnePlus 10 Pro offers substantial improvements over the OnePlus 9 Pro when it comes to battery life and software.
What good is a smartphone with a lousy battery? Fortunately, in this area, the OnePlus 10 Pro scores huge wins over its predecessor. The 10 Pro comes with a 5,000 mAh battery, while the 9 Pro has a 4,500 mAh battery. Tests show the latest OnePlus device lasts comfortably on a day’s worth of use โ a little over 14 hours. It also does other Android phone rivals better. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 9 Pro’s battery life is over 10 hours, with the screen refresh rate set to 120 Hz.
The 10 Pro supports a new 85W fast charging that powers your phone to 100% in just 32 minutes. It also comes with 64W fast charging like the 9 Pro, which gives the device about 58% of battery life in 15 minutes. However, the 85W option is only available outside the US. OnePlus’s latest flagship also supports 50W fast wireless charging like the 9 Pro but adds reverse wireless charging to its features.
During its launch, the 9 Pro ran on OxygenOS 11. Not only was the OxygenOS 11 based on Android, but it also incorporated elements from OPPO’s ColorOS. This hybrid approach is still present in the 10 Pro. However, the phone is launching with a more streamlined OxygenOS 12, which is based on Android 12. Some of the new features of the latest OS include updated gestures, widgets, and a customizable dark mode.
Verdict
The OnePlus 10 Pro offers enough software and hardware upgrades to make it a convincing successor to the OnePlus 9 Pro.
While the design of the OnePlus 10 Pro isn’t a huge leap from the OnePlus 9 Pro, the latest flagship phone has enough upgrades on paper to make it the better phone. Its camera system, for instance, does away with the unnecessary monochrome lens originally found on the 9 Pro. Instead, the 10 Pro opts for a streamlined triple camera system with color tuning from Hasselblad. The phone also gets new and upgraded image and video-taking modes.
OnePlus has also equipped the 10 Pro with an advanced Snapdragon chipset. Combined with its larger battery, the flagship device should be more efficient and powerful than the 9 Pro model. All in all, the 10 Pro makes a strong case for itself as one of the best Android phones in the market.
Is it time to upgrade? If you’re coming from the 9 Pro, there is still plenty of overlap with the 10 Pro in features. For most people, the 9 Pro is a good device to stick with. However, if you’re huge on smartphone photography, the 10 Pro offers substantial camera and performance improvements that make it a joy to use. Lastly, if you’re choosing between the two phones as your first OnePlus device, the 10 Pro will be the better purchase.
FAQs
OnePlus’s 10 Pro comes with a refined triple-rear camera system whereas the 9 Pro uses a quad-camera array. The 10 Pro also boasts a larger battery and a more powerful chipset than its predecessor.
The OnePlus 10 Pro’s front camera records 1080p video at 30 fps.
Yes, the OnePlus 9 Pro comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor.
No. The OnePlus 9 Pro only comes in two colors โ Pine Green and Morning Mist (silver).