Earlier this week, OnePlus pre-announced the OnePlus 10 Pro — OnePlus’ annual refresh of its flagship smartphone. Indeed, OnePlus is among the first companies to launch its flagship of this year, trailing Xiaomi by just a couple of days. Just like every year, the OnePlus 10 Pro has raised the eyebrows of many of its fan base, albeit this time for the wrong reasons.
China-exclusive
It’s no secret that OnePlus, alongside its sister companies Oppo, Vivo, and Realme, is part of the empire of its parent company — BBK electronics. However, unlike its sister companies, one of its hallmarks is its international identity — OnePlus has become one of the well-established mainstream vendors across the globe. It’s always a given that OnePlus’ latest and greatest offering will be available everywhere, with China getting its own custom-tailored variant, stripped of all the Google services you would normally get elsewhere. This year, though, OnePlus bizarrely decided to only launch the OnePlus 10 Pro in China, with no signs of international availability in sight. Yep, as things stand, the OnePlus 10 Pro is only exclusive to China. What a wonderful way to show you truly care about your fan base… sigh.
Only Pros this time
Lately, OnePlus has made a habit of launching two versions of its flagship phone, a regular model and a beefier, top-specced Pro one. This year, there is only the OnePlus 10 Pro, with no “vanilla” model launched alongside it, making its limited availability a much tougher pill to swallow. Usually, region-exclusive models are just a jacked-up version of their regular variant — Xiaomi’s Redmi K20 Pro is basically the same as the Mi 9T except that it comes with a flagship-tier SoC. There is always a leaner version of every Pro variant or region-limited model. It’s subconsciously become a rule of thumb for many consumers. Strangely, OnePlus decided to do something different, prying themselves away from their consumers.
Is it really a Pro?
Usually, flagship phones with the “Pro” tag come with an ace or two up their sleeves. Of course, launching a toned-down version would have served for a more obvious reference, perhaps helping to conceal some of the corners cut anywhere. Unfortunately, that is not the case this year, with OnePlus only launching the OnePlus 10 Pro. Which begs the question, where does the OnePlus 10 Pro stand from the crowd? Well, it’s a quite difficult question to answer. For starters, the OnePlus 10 Pro’s camera system is not a total upgrade when compared to its predecessor. The main and the telephoto cameras are basically the same, with the ultrawide camera effectively trading blows with last year’s one. You get a much wider field of view but with a much smaller sensor. Unless there is some sort of Hasselblad sorcery involved this year, the camera system is very similar to that of last year’s model.
Other than that it’s pretty much OnePlus doing its usual business, with the OnePlus 10 Pro featuring a new design, upgraded internals, a new LTPO 2.0 display, and faster charging across the board, which is pretty much what you would expect from a typical refresh of any flagship model. This begs the question, is it really a Pro phone? Does it really justify its “Pro” tag? Or perhaps it’s us failing to recognize its “Pro” features since there is no OnePlus 10 to compare it to?
Picking their battles
There is no doubt that this year’s OnePlus 10 Pro is one of the most confusing device launches in OnePlus’ history for many reasons, particularly for launching only in China. It’s really difficult to determine the motive behind such a peculiar decision that would upset many of its consumers. Perhaps it’s OnePlus’ way of getting around the global supply chain crisis, or maybe there will be a shift in the company’s strategies following the merger between OnePlus and Oppo, switching roles in particular markets. Sadly, the OnePlus faithful are the only real victims of these decisions.
