The wraps are finally off the OnePlus 9 Pro and OnePlus 9 smartphones and the features are very much what we would expect of a pair of 5G flagship Android handsets seeking to impress on the audio and video front.
The more premium OnePlus 9 Pro looks to be the one to choose for movies on the move with its 6.7in QHD+ (1440x3216px) gently curved, 1300nit, AMOLED display, including LTPO power saving technology. It is capable of 10-bit colour depth and a dynamic refresh rate up to 120Hz, but that can be controlled automatically to bring the speed down to something kinder on battery life when not gaming.
The 6.55in OnePlus 9 is a little lower-specified, but it still offers a healthy-sounding 2400x1080px, 1100nit, flat display with a pixel density of 402ppi (compared with 525ppi). There’s no LTPO with the AMOLED screen this time, and although there is the 120Hz refresh rate, there’s no dynamic switching.
Both units support HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos sound which should add some AV appeal. They support playback of MKV, MOV, MP4, H.265 (HEVC), AVI and other video formats, with both Apple lossless and FLAC enabled on the audio side.
Both phones will allow 8K video capture at 30fps, 4K video at 120fps (60fps with the OnePlus 9) and Super Slow Motion at 720p as well for those looking to make movies of their own.
OnePlus, like most manufacturers, continues its stance against the 3.5mm headphones socket. Instead, wired listening is done through the USB-C port, as is wired charging, via the OnePlus Warp Charge 65T power adaptor that’s included in the box. It allows a complete recharge of the 4500mAh battery in the OnePlus 9Pro and OnePlus 9 in just a claimed 29 minutes. The Warp Charge 50 Wireless charger (£70) is available to buy for both and should do the job in 43 minutes.
For wireless audio, there’s Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX and aptX HD included as well as LDAC technology which allows hi-res audio streaming over Bluetooth at up 24-bit/96 kHz.
Running the show for both mobiles is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip and either 8GB or 12GB of RAM depending on whether you opt for the 128 or 256GB storage version respectively.
Expect that space to disappear pretty quickly too if the Hasselblad cameras on these phones are as good as OnePlus is hoping. The OnePlus 9 range is the first of a three-year partnership between the two companies.
The 9 Pro features a four-camera array with the 48MP Sony IMX789 behind the main lens, a 50MP ultra-wide shooter, an 8MP telephoto with 3.3x optical zoom and a monochrome lens specially tweaked by Hasselblad to capture even more black and white information. The Swedish optical company has calibrated all of the cameras to provide what it feels are the best and most natural colours possible. Both phones get a 16MP front facing camera too but the OnePlus 9 doesn’t get the telephoto lens.
The camera bumps on these devices have been designed to be more streamlined and in tune with the bodies of the phones than on previous OnePlus models. The 197g chassis on the 9 Pro is made of an aluminium frame and measures 163 x 74 x 9mm. It’s also IP68-rated for water and dust resistance. The OnePlus 9 is a 182g fibre glass infused polymer build of 160 x 74 x 9mm.
Both phones run Android 11 with the OnePlus Oxygen OS interface on top. They’re available to buy now in Astral Black, Arctic Sky or Winter Mist (OnePlus 9) and Stellar Black, Morning Mist or Pine Green (OnePlus 9 Pro). The Morning Mist and Astral Black 9 Pros come with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage and cost £829/$969/€899. The souped-up Pine Green is the 12GB/256GB version and comes in at £929/$1069/€999.
As for the OnePlus 9, the Winter Mist colour (£729/$829/€799) indicates the better-specified phone, with 12GB RAM and 258GB of storage. The other two finishes are 8GB/128GB phones and cost £629/$729/€699.
The phones are available to pre-order from 3.30pm GMT today at OnePlus.com, Amazon, John Lewis and Three, with open sales from 31st March (OnePlus 9 Pro) and 26th April (OnePlus 9).
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