OnePlus 7 Pro vs. Huawei P30 Pro: which is king in the battle of the giant slayers?

On the back of heaps of rumours and reports, Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has finally launched its new flagship 7 Pro handset.

Announced alongside the regular OnePlus 7 at yesterday’s product keynote in London, the 7 Pro is the tech firm’s most powerful phone yet and promises top-tier performance at a significantly cheaper price.

The phone’s stand-out features include a true edge-to-edge display with an in-built fingerprint sensor, along with the latest processor from US chipmaker Qualcomm. This suggests that the OnePlus 7 Pro should be more than capable of matching the iPhone XS and Samsung Galaxy S10 on performance.

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But OnePlus isn’t the only tech firm challenging the kingpins of the smartphone world.

In March, rival Chinese firm Huawei unveiled its new P30 Pro phone. It has an impressive quad-sensor camera and a host of security features that greatly improve usability over the company’s previous phone, the Mate 20 Pro.

We’ve pitted the two phones against each other to see which one will emerge as king of the giant slayers:

Price

Entry-level P30 Pros start at £899 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, says Tech Advisor. That figure rises to £1,099 for the 512GB top-spec version.

There are three versions of the OnePlus 7 Pro, all of which are cheaper than the base-level Huawei P30 Pro.

The OnePlus 7 Pro range kicks off at £649 for 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, followed by 8GB of RAM with 256GB of storage for an extra £50, says T3.

Range-topping models come with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for £799, making it the most expensive OnePlus product to date, the website says. That’s until the 5G version, which is rumoured to cost about £1,000, arrives “in a few months”.

Display

Here’s how the displays of the phones stack up against each other:

• OnePlus 7 Pro - 6.67in AMOLED with a 3120x1440 resolution
• Huawei P30 Pro - 6.47in AMOLED, 2340x1080 resolution

OnePlus traditionally equips its smartphones with 1080p displays, but the new 7 Pro is the first to break the mould with a 3120x1440 resolution panel, says Stuff. The screen is not just incredibly crisp, but it’s also one of the smoothest displays on the market thanks to its 90Hz refresh rate - equivalent to around 90fps.

Though the P30 Pro’s 1080p panel is far from disappointing, it isn’t as “crisp” as Huawei’s own Mate 20 Pro, the tech news site says. Most of its rivals in the £1,000 bracket are equipped with higher resolution displays, too.

What’s more, the OnePlus 7 Pro comes with a true edge-to-edge display and does away with the conventional “notch” design - a small indent at the top of the screen containing the phone’s front-facing cameras.

The P30 Pro, meanwhile, comes with a small - yet noticeable - notch at the top of its screen, meaning the OnePlus 7 Pro takes the honours in this round.

Winner: OnePlus 7 Pro

Camera

While the P30 Pro stumbles on display quality, its impressive quad-lens rear-facing camera sets the phone apart from its rivals.

The camera system includes a 5x optical telephoto lens, an ultra-wide-angle and a radical 50x digital zoom. There’s also a time-of-flight sensor, which directs a beam of infrared light to improve depth of field effects.

The front of the phone features a single-lens 32-megapixel selfie camera that’s housed in the small teardrop-shaped notch at the top of the display.

On the OnePlus 7 Pro, buyers get a triple-lens rear-facing camera system comprising of a primary sensor, an ultra-wide angle and a 3x zoom lens, the Evening Standard reports.

While its rear-facing system falls short of the P30 Pro, the OnePlus 7 Pro’s front-facing camera is sure to raise a few eyebrows.

OnePlus has scrapped the notch-style camera in favour of a 16-megapixel pop-up lens that emerges from the top of the device when the photo app is launched, The Guardian says. The lens sports a lower resolution sensor compared to its rival, but the design has allowed OnePlus to install an edge-to-edge display.

Still, the P30 Pro boasts the stronger camera system of the pair and therefore emerges as the victor here.

Winner: Huawei P30 Pro

Performance and security

Both of the Android-powered smartphones come with the best processors in their class and are capable of dealing with pretty much anything you can throw at them.

The OnePlus 7 Pro is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 processor that’s paired to a 4,000mAh battery pack and a selection of RAM configurations ranging from 6GB to 12GB, the Evening Standard says.

There’s also an in-screen fingerprint scanner and facial recognition security options, along with a conventional four or six-digit pin system.

Meanwhile, the P30 Pro gets Huawei’s own Kirin 980 chipset with 8GB of RAM, along with a slightly larger 4,200mAh battery, says Trusted Reviews.

Much like the OnePlus 7 Pro, Huawei P30 Pro owners can unlock their phone using either facial recognition, a fingerprint scanner or a pin code.

Winner: draw

Verdict

Whichever phone you choose, you’re guaranteed a handset that’s packed with features and packs enough power to give iPhone and Samsung Galaxy owners a hard time.

However, the Huawei P30 Pro is only slightly cheaper than its rivals at £899 and its display doesn’t live up to the quality of the top-tier handsets.

This makes the £649 OnePlus 7 Pro a no-brainer for buyers. Although it doesn’t have a headline-grabbing camera, the notch-free screen and powerful processor means you get more bang for your buck over the Huawei.

Winner: OnePlus 7 Pro