The best OnePlus phones for 2022

OnePlus started with an intriguing idea: design a smartphone that combines flagship quality and features with a lower price than competing phones from companies like Samsung, Apple, and Google. Its goal is to enhance the customer experience in everyday use without adding a hefty price tag. That price tag may have crept upwards over the years, but so has the quality of OnePlus’ smartphones, and now the manufacturer can easily claim it stands toe to toe with the greats.

OnePlus segments its offerings into two categories, and as you might expect, the more expensive flagships pack the best features. The alternate OnePlus Nord devices are designed as budget models, so prices are lower and features are pared down — but they’re still generally excellent smartphones. OnePlus used to release flagships twice a year: a main flagship in the spring and a T version of the same phone in the fall. But recently, that schedule has become somewhat erratic.

Upon the launch of yet another OnePlus smartphone — this time the 10T — we are inspired to gaze back at the recent past to other highly rated, and still available, OnePlus smartphones. Note that some OnePlus phone models may be sold only in Europe and India while not specifically sold in the U.S. Even so, buyers in North America do have the option of purchasing or importing most OnePlus models from Amazon or the OnePlus website.

OnePlus 10 Pro

At 8.6mm thick and 200 grams, theOnePlus 10 Pro is an easy-to-live-with, pocketable smartphone with dimensions that reflect its superior build quality and materials. With Gorilla Glass Victus on the screen, paired with Gorilla Glass 5 on the back, both glass modules are joined via a metal chassis. The top OnePlus 10 Pro has 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage space alongside a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. An 8GB, 128GB model is also available.

The OnePlus 10 Pro’s 6.7-inch AMOLED screen has a 3216 x 1440 pixel resolution, a sharp 525 pixel-per-inch density, and a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate. The panel is an LTPO 2.0 AMOLED for faster refresh.

A second generation of Hasselblad Camera for Mobile software accompanies a 48-megapixel main camera, a 50MP wide-angle camera with a 110-degree field of view, and an 8MP telephoto for a 3.3x optical zoom. It offers a 150-degree wide-angle camera mode.

The OnePlus 10 Pro’s battery lasts a day and a half with a full charge and moderate use. After just 15 minutes on the fast charger starting at 40%, the battery rebounds to almost 100%. Thid OnePlus does not have an IP68 water resistance rating but can stand up to light splashing.

OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G

The OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G — made entirely of plastic — is nonetheless pretty to look at and light by modern phone standards at a comfortable 173 grams, 73mm width, and 7.8mm thickness. A 6.43-inch AMOLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate is the face of the Nord CE 2 5G, with Gorilla Glass 5 over the top. The MediaTek Dimensity 900 processor powers the phone, paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage space.

Android 11 with OxygenOS 11 installed on the phone at launch puts it behind competing phones that have already had an update to Android 12. However, the software performance remains snappy, so it’s still a strong pick.

You get a 64MP main camera with an f/1.7 aperture and electronic image stabilization (EIS), an 8MP wide-angle camera with a 119-degree field of view, and a 2MP macro camera. The selfie camera is 16MP. It includes a night mode, a macro mode, a full-resolution 64MP mode, and the ability to shoot 4K video at 30 frames per second. There’s an AI Mode that adds scene recognition and boosts visual images as well.

The 4,500mAh capacity battery lasts for two days of hard use before needing a recharge. The 65-watt SuperVOOC fast-charging system propels the battery from under 5% to 100% in under 35 minutes.

OnePlus 9 Pro

The OnePlus 9 Pro is an excellent smartphone, worthy of trading blows with Apple and Samsung and equipped with 5G. It ranks with the strongest smartphones available in terms of performance with top specs, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, with a choice of 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage. There’s no microSD card, so the storage you buy is all you get.

Those strong specs are backed up by a good battery. It has a 4,500mAh capacity, and it should last a day with average use. However, the OnePlus 9 Pro can access some of the fastest wired charging, and 65W of power should charge your phone from zero to 100% in 28 minutes.

Its 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a 3216 x 1220 resolution is augmented with a crisp 525 pixel density. It’s also a smooth operator, thanks to an adaptive refresh rate that moves between 1Hz and 120Hz, depending on your phone’s current operation.

The camera does not stand up to some of the best camera phones, but it’s still an impressive performer and creates images with strong color balance, vividness, and a natural tone. The quad-lens rear camera was created with Hasselblad and consists of a main 48MP lens, a 50MP wide-angle lens, an 8MP telephoto lens with a 3.3x optical zoom, and a 2MP monochrome lens.

OnePlus 8T

The OnePlus 8T is an excellent phone at a midrange price. The Snapdragon 865 performs well, and you can choose between 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There’s no microSD card slot, so whatever it comes with is all the storage you get.

While the battery is a somewhat average 4,500mAh cell that provides a day’s worth of power, it’s backed up by OnePlus’s monster Warp Charge 65T. This super-fast charging can charge from zero to 60% in around 15 minutes. The 6.5-inch AMOLED display is another highlight and offers a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth operation and a high 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution.

The camera is good enough, though nothing special, but the dedicated monochrome lens is fun to play with.

OnePlus 8 Pro

The OnePlus 8 Pro is a power user’s paradise, and the marriage of 12GB of RAM, a Snapdragon 865 chipset, and the 120Hz Fluid AMOLED screen offers a smooth mobile experience. The OnePlus 8 Pro nails all the elements of an ideal flagship smartphone. IP-rated water and dust resistance? Check. Warp Charge 30T wireless charging? Check. A camera that can compete with the likes of the Google Pixel and Apple iPhone? Check.

It ships with the latest version of Oxygen OS 11 (based on Android 11) and comes with at least two years of software updates.

OnePlus Nord N20 5G

For customers in the U.S., the OnePlus Nord N20 5G is directly available for the American market, compliments of T-Mobile.

It’s made of polycarbonate with a matte finish that does not show fingerprints. The phone is extremely thin at just 7.5mm with a solid squared-off build. The phone has a beautiful 6.43-inch AMOLED screen with great viewing angles and an FHD+ panel with an aspect ratio of 20:9. It features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage, expandable up to 512GB via a microSD card. It ships with Android 11 with one year of operating system upgrades and three years of security updates.

The main camera is 64MP with an f/1.79 aperture, a 2MP macro lens, and a 2MP monochrome lens. Video capture tops out at 1080p at 30 fps. On the front, there’s a single 16MP, f/2.4 lens. Sadly, the cameras are inferior. At night, the camera is nearly unusable, though the macro lens can take some decent shots.

Battery life is good, and with light use you could squeeze two days out of it. With 33W of charging power, we observed about 2% charge rate per minute until about 75%, with the last 20% clocking 25 minutes.

Read our hands on review here.

Editors’ Recommendations