Last night, OnePlus took the covers off its brand new flagships, the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro . While the former is an incremental update over last year’s OnePlus 7T (review), the latter brings in some pretty big upgrades across the board. These include features like a 120Hz display, wireless charging at a super fast 30W, and most importantly, an IP68 rating. These features put it on par with more expensive flagships like Samsung’s Galaxy S20 series and Apple’s iPhone 11 lineup. As per the official spec sheet, the OnePlus 8 misses out on all these features, putting it firmly in affordable flagship territory. However, it now appears that OnePlus might have unofficially made the OnePlus 8 waterproof.
OnePlus 8 is IP68-rated by US carriers
According to a tweet by YouTuber Michael Fisher, the OnePlus 8 models in the US, specifically for carriers T-Mobile and Verizon, are IP68 rated.
I'm seeing lots of confusion around the OnePlus 8's water/dust resistance, which isn't surprising!
Here's what I heard:
-Carrier models (T-Mo, VZ) *are* IP68
-The unlocked ones aren't
-BUT the carrier & unlocked models are nearly identicalErgo: they're all effectively IP68 https://t.co/qTrBMBmnqV
— Michael Fisher (@theMrMobile) April 14, 2020
As per Fisher, it is likely that the carriers paid to get the phone IP68 certified, since it is quite expensive. Interestingly, while the carrier-locked OnePlus 8 models do have this rating, the unlocked models don’t. However, since the carrier and unlocked models have nearly identical hardware, it’s likely that the latter also qualify for an IP68 rating. As expected, OnePlus hasn’t confirmed anything at this time. If this is the case however, OnePlus 8 users might be in for a pleasant surprise.
OnePlus 8 specifications and features
The OnePlus 8 will go on sale in India this summer
The OnePlus 8 features a 6.5-inch Fluid AMOLED display with full HD+ resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. It is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 processor which comes with an X55 5G modem. The phone comes with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of non-expandable storage. The cameras on offer include a 48MP IMX686 primary camera, 16MP ultra-wide camera and 2MP macro camera. The front camera is a 16MP unit. Under the hood is a 4,300mAh battery with support for Warp Charge 30T fast charging. It doesn’t feature wireless charging like the Pro variant though. The phone runs Android 10 with OxygenOS on top. Other key features include face unlock, an in-display fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC and GPS.
The OnePlus 8 comes in Glacial Green, Onyx Black and Interstellar Glow colour variants. It is priced starting at $699 (~Rs 53,000) in the US, and will go on sale in India via Amazon and OnePlus’ website this summer.