OnePlus 8 Pro beats Samsung Galaxy S20 with this killer feature

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The OnePlus 8 Pro will reportedly offer reverse wireless charging that blows away all other Android phones.

OnePlus 8 wireless charging
(Image credit: Future)

The OnePlus 8 series, due to launch in just over a month according to recent leaks, comes from a long line of phones which have never used wireless charging. The OnePlus leadership has long maintained that it wouldn’t move to wireless charging until the technology was fast enough to compete with traditional wired charging, but clearly that moment has now arrived. 

A 91mobiles’ report, based on information supplied by Twitter leaker Ishan Agarwal, has filled in a few missing details about the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro’s specs, including the presence of wireless charging.

Not only will the OnePlus 8 Pro be capable of normal wireless charging, but it will also use reverse wireless charging. Both will have a maximum output of 30W, identical to the Warp Charge 30T wired charger the OnePlus 8 series will be using. 30W is a lot higher than the speeds we see on other phones - the Samsung Galaxy S20 series only manages 12W wireless and 5W reverse wireless - but you’ll likely need some more OnePlus accessories to charge at the full available speed. Agarwal says it's possible that the normal OnePlus 8 may also have wireless charging, but he isn’t sure yet.

We’d strongly suspected that there would be a 5G version of the OnePlus 8 Pro, and this is now confirmed to be the case. The top-tier handset will support both mmWave and sub-6 networks, which is handy since networks may change which standard they use as mobile infrastructure changes over the next few years. As with the wireless charging feature, it's not yet clear if the standard OnePlus 8 will have this as well or if it’s unique to the Pro model.

Other information we’ve heard before but is reinforced by this latest round of leaks includes the OnePlus 8’s display. After starting the high refresh rate trend with its 90Hz panels on the OnePlus 7 Pro and the OnePlus 7T, the 6.55-inch OnePlus 8 and 6.65-inch 8 Pro will have 120Hz displays, much like the Samsung Galaxy S20 series. These displays will have punch-holes within them for the front-facing cameras, a departure from the notches and pop-up cameras that OnePlus used on different versions of the 7 Series.

Inside, the phones will use the Snapdragon 865 CPU, and will come with 6GB/128GB, 8GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB RAM and storage combinations. The OnePlus 8 will have a 4,000 mAh battery while the OnePlus 8 pro will have a 4,500 mAh battery, so you’ll have plenty of capacity to fill up with the new wireless charging ability. As for cameras, the only details we’ve heard so far are that the normal OnePlus 8 will have a 48MP main camera, a 16MP secondary camera and third 2MP camera, although their exact functions are not known.

It was recently leaked that the launch date for these newest OnePlus phones would be in mid-April. Agarwal has refined this date to specifically be April 14. OnePlus tends to hold all its launch events simultaneously, or at least in quick succession, so we can expect US and UK events around this time also.

Agarwal also had information to share on the lower-powered OnePlus 8 Lite, a new badge for OnePlus that likely shows an intent to compete with the Google Pixel 3a and the upcoming Pixel 4a and iPhone 9. This handset will use a 90Hz display with a punch-hole camera, and a MediaTek CPU, a significant downgrade compared to the the OnePlus 8.

Richard Priday
Richard Priday
Assistant Phones Editor

Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.