The OnePlus 8 & 8 Pro 5G prices have leaked and they aren't cheap

UPDATE 2: OnePlus has now officially announced its new flagships. Read our OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro news story for all the details and official price info!

UPDATE: The OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro prices for Europe have leaked once again hours ahead of the announcement. Pricing for the UK has also leaked. The updated story continues below:

Massive price hikes for both OnePlus 8 phones

According to the information obtained by Quandt and a couple of European retailers, OnePlus is permanently saying goodbye to the idea of a true budget flagship by moving the OnePlus 8 series upmarket.

This change will allow the devices to better compete with the latest premium flagships, but the controversial changes could come as a huge disappointment to loyal fans of the company who may feel OnePlus has abandoned its roots. 

Roland Quandt says the standard OnePlus 8 in the 8/128GB configuration will be available to purchase between €699 and €729 across Europe depending on the market. If customers are on the lookout for the 12/256GB version, that will retail between €799 and €829. 

These prices aren’t that high when you consider the current flagship smartphone landscape, but they nevertheless represent a huge increase. The OnePlus 8’s predecessor, the OnePlus 7T, launched last October in the same 8/128GB configuration for only €589/599 in Europe. 

The high-end OnePlus 7T Pro, on the other hand, retailed at €759/769 at launch but these impressive prices haven’t been retained for the OnePlus 8 Pro. The latter is reportedly going to retail between €899  and €929 in Europe with an 8/128GB storage configuration.

OnePlus’ more impressive 12/256GB OnePlus 8 Pro model looks set to retail at €1,009 and €1,019 across Europe. That is the first time a OnePlus smartphone has cost more than €1,000 and it also makes the OnePlus 8 Pro even more expensive than the OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition (€859). 

As for the UK, it seems the OnePlus 8 in the 8/128GB and 12/256GB configurations will retail at £599 and £699 respectively. The OnePlus 8 Pro in the 8/128GB and 12/256GB variants should cost £799 and £899.

Blame 5G network support and other big upgrades

The main reason behind these large increases, as OnePlus itself already warned, is understood to be the new 5G Snapdragon X55 modem that accompanies the flagship Snapdragon 865 chipset as standard. 

Not everybody needs or even wants a 5G smartphone in 2020, but most customers in the high-end market have been left with little choice because Qualcomm bundles the 5G modem with its latest chipset as standard. Basically, if you want the best performance, you’re also going to have to pay for 5G.

Other contributing factors are likely the upgraded cameras on both devices, the presence of wireless charging for the first time, and the improved displays.

To better compete with the latest flagships, OnePlus has made the decision to introduce several other features aside from the usual display and camera upgrades. 

Perhaps the most important one is the inclusion of wireless charging. OnePlus has been working on its own implementation for years and has finally announced the Warp Charge 30 Wireless technology, which will charge up the OnePlus 8 Pro's 4,500mAh battery from 0 to 50% in just 30 minutes.

Another feature reportedly on the way is an IP68 water and dust resistance rating. OnePlus has so far avoided implementing water and dust resistance because of the added costs, but customers have been asking for the feature for quite some time and OnePlus has now listened.