OnePlus 8 Pro vs Xiaomi Mi 10 : Which one to buy?
Xiaomi has finally launched its new flagship smartphone in India, the Xiaomi Mi 10. With a starting price of Rs 49,999 (~$660), it competes with the latest flagship from OnePlus, the OnePlus 8 Pro which starts at Rs 54,999 (~$725). So, here is a quick comparison between the two flagships which helps you to decide the right one for you if you are planning to get one.
Design and Display
Both the smartphones have amazing build qualities with glass back and aluminium frame. The OnePlus 8 Pro has a Gorilla Glass 5 on both the front and back where as Mi 10 has it on the front. Both the phones come with a matte glass finish on the back and provide a premium feel in the hand. While the OnePlus 8 Pro is IP68 dust/water resistant, there is no official IP rating for the Mi 10.
On the front, the OnePlus sports a 6.78 inch Quad-HD+ Fluid AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The Mi 10 has a 6.67 inch Full-HD+ Super AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. Both the phones have curved displays and support HDR10+. Both the phones also have stereo speakers. With all these flagship specs both the devices provide a great media consumption experience.
Performance
The Xiaomi Mi 10 and the OnePlus 8 Pro come with the latest and greatest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset and have a minimum of 8GBLPDDR5 RAM with UFS 3.0 storage. With the latest snapdragon 865 chipset inside, performance will not be an issue. These phones can handle anything you throw at them with ease. Multi-tasking should be a breeze, even with the base models which come with 8GB of RAM. Both the smartphones can play all the major games at maximum settings and high frame-rates. The Mi 10 comes with a LiquidCool 2.0 Vapor Chamber and a six stack graphite layer for thermal management, which should keep the phone cool during extended gaming sessions. Both the smartphones also support 5G, so they are future proof as well.
Camera
Both the smartphones come with a versatile quad camera setup on the back. The main camera on the Mi 10 is a 108 MP shooter with a f/1.7 aperture. The camera module on the Mi 10 also houses a 13 MP ultra-wide lens with 123 degree field of view, a 2 MP macro camera and a 2 MP depth camera.
OnePlus 8 Pro on the other hand has a 48 MP main camera with an aperture of f/1.8, a 48 MP ultra-wide camera with a 116 degree field of view, 8 MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and a 5 MP color filter camera.
Both the main cameras have optical image stabilization. Both the smartphones provide great photo and video quality in daylight as well as in low-light conditions.
On the front, both the smartphones have punch-hole camera setup. OnePlus 8 Pro comes with a 16 MP f/2.5 lens while the Mi 10 has a 20 MP f/2.0 camera. Both the smartphones support video recording at 1080p upto 30fps. OnePlus does come with Electronic Image Stabilization, which results in stable selfie videos.
While the OnePlus misses out on a dedicated macro camera, it can still capture some amazing macro shots with its ultra-wide lens. OnePlus 8 Pro has improved quite a lot in the camera department which puts it right next to the flagships from Apple and Samsung. OnePlus 8 Pro also offer much versatility by including a telephoto sensor which the Mi 10 lacks. But, like the Samsung Galaxy S20 series phones the Mi 10 is capable of recording 8K videos.
Battery
In terms of battery, Mi 10 has a massive 4780 mAh battery. Mi 10 supports fast charging at 30W and fast wireless charging at 30W. The phone also supports reverse wireless charging at 10W.
OnePlus 8 Pro comes with a 4510 mAh battery. Similar to the Mi 10, the 8 Pro also support fast charging at 30W and fast wireless charging at 30W, which is advertised to charge the phone upto 50% in 30 minutes. OnePlus 8 Pro also support reverse wireless charging but it is slower compared to the Mi 10.
Both the phones have decent battery capacities and can last for a full day with medium to heavy usage.
Pricing and Verdict
With both the phones having identical specifications in almost all the categories, the final decision boils down to the user experience. OnePlus 8 Pro ships with OxygenOS 10.0 based on android 10 while the Mi 10 ships with MIUI 11 based on android 10. OnePlus is well known for its stock android like experience and faster updates. On the other hand MIUI 11 also have some cool features like ambient sounds and always-on display presets which the OnePlus lacks.
The OnePlus 8 Pro is priced at Rs 54,999 ($725) for the 8GB+128GB variant and Rs 59,999 ($791) for the 12GB+256GB variant in India. It comes in three color variants, Glacial Green, Ultramarine Blue and Onyx Black.
The Xiaomi Mi 10 starts at around Rs 49,999 (~$660) for the 8GB+128GB variant and Rs 54,999 (~$725) for the 8GB+256GB variant in India. It comes with Coral Green and Twilight Grey color options.
Performance is not an issue with either of these phones. However, if you want the best android experience coupled with faster android updates, an official IP certification and an overall better camera performance you can go with the OnePlus 8 Pro. If you are fine with MIUI skin on top of android and the lack of IP certification, you can pick the 256GB Mi 10 variant or even save an extra Rs 5000 (~$65) and get the Mi 10 128GB variant.
Originally published at https://techstop-india.blogspot.com on May 10, 2020.
