Review: OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro

It's a fact: OnePlus’ flagship phones are no longer synonymous with value. The company, long known for making price-friendly high-end phones, now just makes … high-end phones. That was a little hard to stomach last year when the cameras on its 2020 flagship device fell short of the competition. Thankfully, the latest crop of OnePlus phones remedies this shortcoming. 

Starting at $969 for the OnePlus 9 Pro and $729 for the OnePlus 9, these new Android phones are some of the priciest OnePlus phones yet, but the goods finally match or surpass the similarly priced competition. That's particularly thanks to a partnership with esteemed camera brand Hasselblad. The triple-camera system on the OnePlus 9 Pro was designed in concert with the Swedish digital imaging company, which is majority owned by drone-maker DJI. As a result of the collaboration, the cameras on these phones are much more capable than their predecessors.

Unfortunately, catching up to the camera capabilities of OnePlus’ competitors (while losing the value hook) means these phones lack a defining feature. They don't have the smarts of Google Pixels, nor standout capabilities like 10X optical zoom on Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra. They're just great, expensive, high-end phones. 

OnePlus knows it's lagged behind on the output quality of its phone cameras, so it recently announced a pledge to invest $150 million into camera research, and a part of that includes a three-year collaboration with Hasselblad. It's why “Hasselblad” is emblazoned on the rear camera module of both OnePlus 9 phones.

If you look closely, you can see the Hasselblad logo (printed vertically) in the camera module of the OnePlus 9.

Photograph: OnePlus

The relationship is in the early stages, but Hasselblad has already helped with image sensor calibration, color tuning, and image processing on the two new phones. With later models, expect a greater degree of involvement, including custom lenses. My expectations weren't high—my previous Hasselblad-designed mobile experience was with the disappointing Motorola True Zoom Moto Mod—but you can now consider me surprised. 

The main improvement you'll find here over previous OnePlus phones is color calibration. Read my OnePlus 8T and OnePlus 8 reviews and you'll see that I found their photos to be oversaturated. That's not the case anymore. Colors are closer to what you see in real life. Not all the time; blue skies every so often are too blue, but photos don't look unnatural anymore, which is nice.

The 9 Pro and the standard 9 have different sensors for the primary camera. They're both 48 megapixels, but the Pro has a slightly superior sensor that brings out more detail in its photos. Results are often an edge above what you'll get from the Pixel 5 and can match the output from the Galaxy S21 Ultra, our top two Android camera phones. 

But they're not always consistent. The few times I've taken photos of my food, for example, shots from the Pixel are noticeably crisper compared to either of the two OnePlus phones. The same is true for Portrait mode photos—the 9 series frequently made errors when blurring the areas around a subject's hair.  

At least you don't have to worry much when taking photos at night. Use the dedicated Nightscape camera mode, stay still for a few seconds, and you'll end up with a relatively sharp and brightened scene. These photos are sometimes better than the competition, sometimes not so much. 

One particular area of excellence is the ultrawide camera, which is the exact same on both. This 50-megapixel sensor is one of the largest around for an ultrawide, and that's perceptible in low light, where snaps are sharper and more color-accurate than ultrawide images from rivals.  

On the other hand, the 3.3X optical zoom camera, only available on the OnePlus 9 Pro, is just OK. You'll find a lot of grain even with daytime shots, and it's practically useless when the sun goes down, as it's not compatible with OnePlus' Nightscape mode. It just doesn't match the photo quality from phones like the Galaxy S21 Ultra (not to mention that fact that it doesn't zoom as far as the Galaxy). 

Speaking of compatibility, the dedicated night mode doesn't work with the 16-megapixel front camera on either phone. As a result, low-light selfies feel subpar. 

The 9 Pro makes up for these shortcomings in the video department. Its 4K and 8K video footage—yes, we're at 8K now—is remarkably brighter and more stabilized than clips from Samsung's S21 range. This just might be my favorite Android phone for video.

Rounding out the camera systems on both devices is the ability to capture surprisingly good macro photos. There's also a Pro mode, which lets you tweak camera settings like ISO and shutter speed to capture 12-bit RAW photos that look excellent once edited in apps like Adobe Lightroom.

The rest of the hardware in these phones is excellent, and pretty much what you'd expect from the company. The 9 series is powered by the speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip with 8 gigs of RAM, upgradable to 12 gigabytes if you need that much. (You really don't.) That's more than powerful enough to handle most, if not all, intensive games and apps. 

A new cooling solution called Cool Play improves heat dissipation during gaming; I noticed the 9 Pro stayed comfortably warm after an hour of Oddmar. A very small number of games will also support a feature called Hyper Touch at launch, which improves the syncing time between the display and the processor. OnePlus says this should make fast-paced games feel more responsive, but I wasn't able to test the feature. Despite these additions, I'd still pick the Asus ROG Phone 5 if I spent a ton of time with mobile games. It offers a more ergonomic experience overall.  

The AMOLED displays on both OnePlus phones are bright, colorful, and sharp—Ma Rainey's Black Bottom on Netflix looks exceptional, though color tones are a tad warmer than I'd like. The dual speakers sound pretty good too. 

Both phones have 120-Hz screen refresh rates for more fluid interactions, but the 9 Pro's 6.7-inch screen differentiates with the use of an LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) backplane to auto-adjust the refresh rate based on what you're doing. It can scale the rate from 1 Hz if you're starting at a static image, up to 120 Hz if you're doing something like scrolling through Instagram. It's a win for power efficiency, but it's only available on the Pro model. You won't find this feature in the OnePlus 9's 6.55-inch screen. (The Pro also has a curved display, whereas the OnePlus 9's screen is flat.)

Worry not, though. I didn't find a discrepancy in battery life. The 4,500-mAh cell in both of these phones lasts about a full day with regular use, with extra juice to spare for the following morning. Battery life is even less of an issue if you carry around OnePlus' proprietary charger. It's chunky, but it can completely recharge either phone in a stunning 29 minutes. 

Wireless charging is now finally supported on both models, though the Pro takes the cake for the speediest wireless charging I've ever seen (only if you buy and use OnePlus' proprietary wireless charger). You can hit 100 percent in under 50 minutes. I'm not in much of a hurry these days, but it's nice to have such speeds at the ready.

I also don't like the haptic vibration systems in these phones. It's so faint I can barely feel the phone vibrating. And while OnePlus has made a strong effort at preventing accidental touches with the curved display on the 9 Pro, a frequent issue on prior models, there are now some touch registration issues when typing with the keyboard. Keys at the edge of the screen like “P” or backspace don't register unless you hold the phone a certain way. This didn't affect me too much since I usually swipe to type, but it's something to be aware of if you're an old-school thumb jockey.

After initially only promising two years of Android software and security upgrades, OnePlus caved and is now offering three OS upgrades and four years of security updates for the 9 series. That matches what Samsung promises, and goes further than Google in terms of security. Extended support means you end up with a phone that remains secure for longer, plus you get new features and see potentially fewer bugs over time.

These are two good phones, but the OnePlus 9 Pro makes a better case for itself with its superior camera system. I still had more fun with the camera system on Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra—and that phone is regularly on sale for just $31 more than the 9 Pro. Don't forget, Samsung's phone will get two additional years of updates over the OnePlus. There's also no 5G support on AT&T (Verizon support is now available), though this might come later in a software update.

As for the standard OnePlus 9, I prefer the camera system and the smarter software you get with the Google Pixel 5 (or even the regular Galaxy S21, which goes for $700 nowadays). OnePlus just needs that extra something to give its now well-rounded phones an edge in this ultra-competitive environment. I'd also like to remind you that you absolutely don't need to spend this kind of cash if you're just looking for a good enough phone—our Best Cheap Phones guide has recommendations for $500 and under if you want to spend as little as possible.

If you want to give 'em a shot, the new OnePlus phones are up for preorder on March 26 and officially go on sale on April 2.

Updated July 2021: OnePlus now promises three OS upgrades and four years of security updates.