OnePlus 10 Pro on the way with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and second-gen Hasselblad cameras

Following months of speculation and rampant rumours, OnePlus has finally unveiled the latest in its line of premium flagship smartphones, the OnePlus 10 Pro.

Officially launching in China during a reveal event on 11 January, OnePlus says that the 10 Pro will appear in the UK “later in 2022”. Last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro arrived in March 2021, so there’s a good chance we won’t have to wait too long – provided, of course, that OnePlus isn’t hit with any Covid-related chip/component shortages in the interim.

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There’s no word yet on UK price, either, but we do know that the OnePlus 10 Pro starts at 4,699 CNY in China, (around £541), topping out at 5,299 CNY (£611). Considering the OnePlus 9 Pro was priced at £829, I reckon these rough currency conversions are quite optimistic.

With that out of the way, what exactly has OnePlus got in store for us when the OnePlus 10 Pro (finally) arrives in the UK? Let’s start with the headline changes first: the 10 Pro is the first OnePlus phone to be powered by Qualcomm’s brand-new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. During its December launch, Qualcomm said that the new CPU performs up to 20% faster than the previous iteration, the Snapdragon 888, found inside last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro. According to OnePlus, the accompanying Adreno GPU is 25% more efficient, too.

This new chipset is paired with either 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The OnePlus 10 Pro incorporates super speedy 80W “Super VOOC” wired charging, delivering 100% charge to the bigger 5,000mAh battery in just 32 minutes – the fastest charging speeds ever on a OnePlus phone. It also supports 50W wireless charging.

As for the display, the OnePlus 10 Pro’s 6.7in QHD+ (3,216 x 1,440) panel is much the same, with a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz and support for HDR 10+ playback. However, OnePlus says that this screen is now colour calibrated at two different brightness levels: high and low.

Design-wise, the new squared-off rear camera array now merges nicely from the aluminium edges of the phone, sitting neatly on the OnePlus 10 Pro’s glass panel. It’s a striking look, and definitely does a good job of setting itself apart from the usual iPhone copycats, especially in the new Volcanic Black and Emerald Forest colours. A small holepunch notch is yet again situated in the top-left corner of the display, incorporating the single 13MP Sony IMX615 selfie camera.

On that note, let’s talk about the cameras. For a second year running, OnePlus has continued its partnership with pro-camera manufacturer Hasselblad, and each of the OnePlus 10 Pro’s three rear cameras – 48MP main, 50MP 150-degree ultrawide and 8MP 3.3x zoom – shoot in 10-bit colour. Essentially, what this means is that the OnePlus 10 Pro can capture an increased range of colours than typical 8-bit phone cameras.

Hasselblad Pro mode has also been updated with support for 12-bit RAW capture and there’s a new Movie mode, too, which allows you to adjust ISO, shutter speed, and white balance settings before and during filming. There’s also a set of three new filters – Serenity, Radiance, and Emerald – to choose from, developed in partnership with Hasselblad photographers.