(Pocket-lint) – The OnePlus 8 Pro was one of 2020’s best phones, offering flagship specs and premium design at cheaper price than the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy S20 range. 

While both series of phones are a little older now, they still make great purchase options purely because you can now get them cheaper than they were at launch. 

So how does the OnePlus 8 Pro compare to Samsung’s top-of-the-range Galaxy S20 Ultra and Galaxy S20+? Here are the specifications up against each other.

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Design

• OnePlus 8 Pro: 165.3 x 74.4 x 8.5mm, 199g
• Samsung S20+: 161.9 x 73.7 x 7.8mm, 186g
• Samsung S20 Ultra: 166.9 x 76 x 8.8mm, 220g

The OnePlus 8 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S20+ and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra all offer premium designs with metal cores and glass rears, though OnePlus offers matte options, while Samsung offers gloss only. The frosted glass is both lovely to look at, and does a better job of resisting smudges from fingerprint grease. 

The Samsung S20+ and S20 Ultra both have punch hole cameras centralised at the top of their displays, while the OnePlus 8 Pro has a punch hole camera positioned in the top left corner of its display.

On the back, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a slightly neater design with a pill-shaped vertical camera housing positioned in the middle, while the Samsung Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra both have more prominent rectangular camera housings in the top left corner of their rears.

Size wise, the OnePlus sits right in the middle of the two Samsung phones. It’s a little wider and thicker than the S20+, but narrower and thinner than the S20 Ultra. That means, in the hand, the S20+ is slightly more comfortable, but in truth all phones are pretty big. 

All devices being compared here offer IP68 water and dust resistance and they all have in-display fingerprint sensors. So there’s a lot of parity here. In terms of build and looks, you’re not getting a less premium device by going with OnePlus. 

Display

• OnePlus 8 Pro: 6.78-inch, Quad HD+, 120Hz
• Samsung S20+: 6.7-inch, Quad HD+, 120Hz
• Samsung S20 Ultra: 6.9-inch, Quad HD+, 120Hz

The OnePlus 8 Pro has a 6.78-inch display with a Quad HD+ resolution offering a pixel density of 513ppi. It offers an aspect ratio of 19.8:9 and a refresh rate of 120Hz.

The Samsung Galaxy S20+ has a 6.7-inch display with a Quad HD+ resolution and 525ppi, putting it at a similar size to the OnePlus 8 Pro, while the Ultra is larger at 6.9-inches. It too has a Quad HD+ resolution though, with a pixel density of 511ppi. 

While both Galaxy devices have 120Hz refresh rate displays – just like OnePlus – Samsung currently only allows you to have it switched on if the resolution is set to full HD+. That means you have to choose between sharpness, and fast animations. OnePlus allows you to have both switched on at the same time, without compromise. 

Still, despite this, all three displays are truly excellent and easily the best currently available on any smartphone. They’re sharp, vibrant and responsive. 

All devices being compared in this feature have a AMOLED panel and offer HDR10+ support.

Cameras

• OnePlus 8 Pro: 48MP main, 8MP telephoto, 48MP ultra wide, 5MP colour filter
• Samsung S20+: 12MP main, 64MP telephoto, 12MP ultra wide, DepthVision
• Samsung S20 Ultra: 108MP main, 48MP telephoto, 12MP ultra wide, DepthVision

The camera department is perhaps the area these devices differ the most.

The OnePlus 8 Pro has a quad rear camera, made up of a 48-megapixel main sensor, 8-megapixel telephoto sensor, 48-megapixel ultra-wide angle sensor and a 5-megapixel colour filter sensor. There’s a dual LED flash and a range of features including Video HDR, Smart Pet Capture mode and 3x hybrid zoom.

The Samsung Galaxy S20+ has a quad rear camera too, made up of a 12-megapixel main sensor, 64-megapixel telephoto sensor, 12-megapixel ultra wide sensor and a Depth Vision time of flight sensor.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra meanwhile, has a 108-megapixel main sensor, 48-megapixel telephoto sensor, which is a 10x hybrid optic periscope lens, 12-megapixel ultra wide sensor and a DepthVision sensor. 

Despite having the impressive-sounding 100x Space Zoom, in our testing, we had a few issues with the S20 Ultra’s camera. Apart from that ultra-zoom being not much more than a gimmick at its extreme focal lengths, there were other problems with focussing on items up close. The S20+ may have the less jaw-dropping spec sheet here, but it gave us fewer issues overall and performs well. As does OnePlus. 

The 8 Pro’s primary and ultra-wide cameras are excellent, and the zoom is useful, even if the colours and detail don’t quite match up with the other two main cameras. As for that colour filter camera, that’s a little weird and lets you be creative, but doesn’t offer anything distinctly wortwhile. 

Hardware and specifications

• OnePlus 8 Pro: Qualcomm SD865, 8/12GB RAM, 128/256GB storage, 4510mAh battery
• Samsung S20+: Qualcomm SD865/Exynos 990, 12GB RAM, 128/256/512GB storage, 4500mAh battery
• Samsung S20 Ultra: Qualcomm SD865/Exynos 990, 12/16GB RAM, 128/256/512GB storage, 5000mAh battery

The OnePlus 8 Pro runs on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor with a choice of 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There is no microSD support for further storage expansion. 

The Samsung Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra both run on either the Exynos 990 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, depending on the region. Both have 12GB of RAM as standard but the Ultra also comes in a 16GB option. There are various storage options, with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB models available, all of which offer microSD storage expansion up to 1TB.

In terms of everyday speed and performance, the OnePlus and Samsung phones will all offer you a speedy, responsive experience. We didn’t notice any significant difference between the three. It’s no surprise really given the similar specifications and power available in all of them. 

In terms of battery capacities, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a 4510mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy S20+ has a 4500mAh battery and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has a 5000mAh battery. IN testing, the OnePlus was the one that’s likely to last a little bit longer, but again, there’s not a huge amount in it. Samsung has really upped its battery longevity game this year. 

The one place you will notice a difference is in charging speeds. With its 30W wireless charging, OnePlus will refill much quicker on its charging stand than either of the Samsung phones will while wireless charging. 

All three also offer reverse wireless charging too, so you can top up your wireless charging compatible earphones or smartwatch from any of the phones. 

All three devices being compared here are 5G enabled. 

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Conclusion

The OnePlus 8 Pro sits in the middle of both the Samsung Galaxy S20+ and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra but it is quite a bit cheaper than both models, coming in around the same price as the standard Galaxy S20 instead.

There’s plenty of similarities between the three devices too, despite the price difference. All have large displays, premium designs, powerful hardware and good software experiences, albeit different. 

You get microSD support on the Samsung devices, along with some interesting camera functionality, especially on the S20 Ultra, but you pay more for these attributes – a lot more in the case of the Ultra – so the decision between these handsets will come down to your budget and what features matter to you most.

On the whole, we don’t think you’ll be losing a whole lot at all in real daily performance and capabilities by going with the OnePlus 8 Pro instead of either of these two Samsung phones. 

Writing by Britta O’Boyle. Editing by Cam Bunton.