The OnePlus 7 Pro is here, and ready to compete head-to-head with the best flagship phones on the market. It's undoubtedly the most exciting of the two OnePlus devices announced on 14 May, just like Huawei's P30 Pro is clearly the winner in the P30 series.
Each phone offers the pinnacle of tech and power available from the two manufacturers. The big question is: do you miss anything by spending £250 less on the OnePlus 7 Pro, or is the P30 Pro really worth the extra money?
Huawei P30 Pro
Design
- OnePlus 7 Pro: 162.6 x 75.9 x 8.8mm
- Huawei P30 Pro: 158 x 73.4 x 8.41mm
The first thing you notice when picking these two phones up is just how big the OnePlus 7 Pro is. It's noticeably wider and taller than its Huawei counterpart. In fact, it's wider and taller than almost every other flagship phone.
Saying that, the OnePlus 7 Pro offers a premium design with a glossy metal frame and a glass rear that comes in three colours. It's similar in that regard to the Huawei, but OnePlus' colour choices are a lot more subtle than Huawei's. While Huawei goes for multiple colours blending into each other, OnePlus stuck with either a single colour or dark/light gradients of the same colour.
Switch it around to the front and the OnePlus 7 Pro has a full, uninterrupted display with no notch of any kind, and a pop up front camera. Compare it side-by-side with the Huawei, and that little dewdrop notch at the top of Huawei's display becomes far more obvious.
While the overall shape and material choices are very similar on the two phones, there are some subtle differences. For instance, Huawei went with completely flat edges on the top and bottom, whereas OnePlus' are rounded. Then there's the positioning of the cameras: OnePlus sticks to its preferences for symmetry by placing the camera system in the middle, while Huawei has it in the top left corner.
Where the P30 Pro has a clear advantage is IP68 water and dust resistance, OnePlus typically doesn't have an official IP rating, but it has got water seals inside the ports and holes, so should still survive daily splashes and accidents.
Sorry, wired headphone lovers, neither phone has a 3.5 jack.
Display
- OnePlus 7 Pro: 6.67-inch, OLED, Quad HD+
- Huawei P30 Pro: 6.47-inch, OLED, Full HD+
The display is clearly the OnePlus 7 Pro's most impressive feature. It's 6.67-inch Fluid AMOLED display with a Quad HD+ resolution. There is no notch present thanks to the pop up front camera, delivering an uninterrupted display which looks fantastic.
What makes a real difference is that OnePlus also offers a 90Hz refresh rate on the 7 Pro, which delivers a smoother, more fluid experience than most other smartphones, many of which have a 60Hz refresh rate, including the P30 Pro.
The Huawei P30 Pro has a 6.47-inch AMOLED display, resulting in a slightly smaller screen to the OnePlus 7 Pro. It's also a lower resolution than the OnePlus 7 Pro, at Full HD+, meaning the OnePlus device is noticeably sharper, particularly when looking at fine text.
In short, the OnePlus 7 Pro display is probably the best display on the market right now, but still, you won't suffer using the Huawei's. It's just not quite as sharp or fluid.
Camera
- OnePlus 7 Pro: Triple rear (48MP+16MP+8MP)
- Huawei P30 Pro: Quad rear (40MP+20MP+8MP+ToF)
If it's the display that pushes the 7 Pro ahead of the Huawei, it's the camera that works in favour for Huawei.
The OnePlus 7 Pro comes with a triple camera featuring a 48-megapixel main sensor, joined by a 16-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and an 8-megapixel telephoto sensor. The pop up front camera has a 16-megapixel resolution and an aperture of f/2.0.
End results, for the most part are good. The big difference is in the zoom camera. OnePlus only offers up to three times "optical" zoom, while the Huawei goes up to five times, and even has a 10x option for lossless. That makes it a lot more versatile as a camera than OnePlus'.
The Huawei P30 Pro has a Leica quad camera on the back, made up of a 40-megapixel wide angle lens, a 20-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens, an 8-megapixel telephoto lens and a Time of Flight sensor. Its results are excellent in almost any condition, even when there's very little light.
Huawei's ability to draw in light and stabilise long exposure photos automatically, even when handheld, it's its biggest achievement. It's really impressive at night time.
The P30 Pro's front camera is a 32-megapixel snapper with an aperture of f/2.0.
Hardware
- OnePlus 7 Pro: SD855, 6/8/12GB RAM, 4000mAh
- Huawei P30 Pro: Kirin 980, 8GB RAM, 4200mAh
The OnePlus 7 Pro comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 under its hood, supported by 6GB, 8GB or 12GB of RAM. Users also have the option of 128GB or 256GB of storage, neither of which have microSD support for storage expansion.
In terms of battery, the OnePlus 7 Pro has a 4000mAh cell, which offers the company's 30W Warp Charge.
The Huawei P30 Pro has the very powerful Kirin 980 chipset inside, coupled with 8GB of RAM and a choice of 128GB of storage or 512GB.
It has a 4200mAh battery capacity that supports Huawei's 40W SuperCharge, as well as wireless charging - a feature the OnePlus 7 Pro leaves off its list.
In daily use, almost certainly down to software optimisations and the lower resolution screen, the Huawei does seem to last longer than OnePlus on a full charge, despite having a similarly sized battery. Light/moderate use could push it to two days, while OnePlus will get you through one and need charging at the end of most days.
Software
- OnePlus 7 Pro: OxygenOS (based on Android)
- Huawei P30 Pro: Android with EMUI
The OnePlus 7 Pro runs on Oxygen OS built on Android Pie, which is a customised version of Android, but retains that light, clean feel of stock Android.
The Huawei P30 Pro runs on Android Pie with the EMUI skin over the top. That's a much heavier skin than the one offered by OnePlus, and so the visual side - and sometimes actually using it - is quite different in a few ways. Which you like is personal preference, and there are no real disadvantages to using Huawei's as there once might have been.
Price
- OnePlus 7 Pro: From £649
- Huawei P30 Pro: From £899
The OnePlus 7 Pro starts at £649, with the top model costing £799.
The Huawei P30 Pro starts at £899, which means it is quite a bit more expensive than the OnePlus 7 Pro.
Oneplus 7 Pro 6GB 128GB
Conclusion
The OnePlus 7 Pro offers a larger, sharper and faster display than the Huawei P30 Pro, along with more RAM, no notch to interrupt the display and a cheaper price point.
The Huawei P30 Pro meanwhile, has a larger battery capacity, wireless charging and the option of more storage compared to the OnePlus 7 Pro.
The P30 Pro also has an excellent camera that the OnePlus 7 Pro doesn't quite compete with based on our experience of the two devices, but it is of course more expensive.
While you might miss on a few features by spending less on the OnePlus - mostly camera and battery life - you do gain a phone with a really fast, fluid user interface and a fantastic display.