OnePlus 8 Pro review: great build quality, superb screen, and speedy wireless charging, but its color camera is gimmicky and dim light photography is mediocre
The best flagship of 2020, even if it is more expensive Sam Rutherford / Gizmodo : OnePlus 8 Review: This Is the Android Phone for Most People Ryne Hager / Android Police : OnePlus 8 Pro review: The flagship killer is now truly just the flagship Ben Schoon / 9to5Google : OnePlus 8 gets 100GB Google One promo, Stadia support coming to OnePlus phones Chris Velazco / Engadget : OnePlus 8 Pro review: Speed is everything
Context & Ripple Effects
This review lands mid-arc in OnePlus's identity shift. The 2016 OnePlus 3 won praise at $400 as the value pick; by the 8 Pro, The Verge calls it 'the best flagship of 2020' while noting it is now more expensive — the 'flagship killer' framing Android Police uses here reads as an obituary for the old positioning.
The split within the 8 lineup matters: the plain OnePlus 8 reviewed a day later keeps strong battery life but drops wireless charging and an IP rating, so the Pro's speedy wireless charging is the differentiator buyers are paying up for.
First-order effects
- Launch buyers choosing between the two models are effectively paying a premium for the Pro's wireless charging and IP rating, since reviewers rate both phones' cameras as the weak spot.
- Google's bundling — a 100GB Google One promo with the OnePlus 8 and promised Stadia support — becomes part of the value pitch as hardware prices climb.
Second-order effects
- Camera criticism recurs rather than resolves: the $899 OnePlus 10 Pro ships two years later still with underwhelming cameras and no IP rating on the unlocked model, pushing camera-first buyers toward rivals and leaving OnePlus competing on screens and charging speed.
- The 8T follows the same template at $749 — 65W charging, 120Hz display, a fourth camera reviewers call unnecessary, still no wireless charging — confirming the lineup's spec-sheet identity while the price floor keeps rising.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — prices climbing from $400 to $899 across generations while cameras lag — OnePlus forfeits the value-buyer base that built the brand, and the later Oppo-led restructuring that ends OnePlus operations in the US and Europe looks like the endpoint of that trade.
- Persistent camera weakness across flagships suggests the gap was structural (sensor and tuning investment Oppo chose not to fund), not a one-generation miss — a caution for any brand trying to leap from budget to premium on display and charging specs alone.
The trend: OnePlus spent 2020–2022 converting its flagship-killer value proposition into full flagship pricing, with camera quality as the recurring unmet promise until Oppo's restructuring pulled the brand out of Western markets.