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Apple iPhone 8 Plus vs OnePlus 5

by Peter Kostadinov

Oct 10, 2017, 8:42 AM

The iPhone 8 Plus has arrived with a bang, aiming for a spot on the winning podium. A ton of competition from the Android realm is also vying for a place there, with one of the best bang-for-buck competitors being the OnePlus 5, a rather affordable handset that's boasting some serious hardware muscle inside as well.

Which one is a better fit for your empty pocket? We are set on a course to find out!

Design

The leitmotif here is glass versus metal. Apple is going back to its roots by fully employing a full glass back on the iPhone 8 Plus and a series 7000 aluminum frame, which feels quite premium to the hand. Water-resistance is also here to stay, which is a big plus.

Meanwhile, the full-metal OnePlus 5 is premium in its own way, with clean lines and classic design. It's subjective which one would feel better in your hand, but there's no denying that the glass back of the iPhone adds up to the overall grip, whereas the OnePlus 5 could be quite slippery in certain scenarios and the rather thin side frame is definitely not very helpful. However, the OnePlus 5 is much easier to handle and use due to the smaller dimensions, especially with the way heavier iPhone 8 Plus.

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Front view
Side view

Apple iPhone 8 Plus

Dimensions

6.24 x 3.07 x 0.3 inches

158.4 x 78.1 x 7.5 mm

Weight

7.13 oz (202 g)

OnePlus 5

Dimensions

6.07 x 2.92 x 0.29 inches

154.2 x 74.1 x 7.25 mm

Weight

5.40 oz (153 g)

Apple iPhone 8 Plus

Dimensions

6.24 x 3.07 x 0.3 inches

158.4 x 78.1 x 7.5 mm

Weight

7.13 oz (202 g)

OnePlus 5

Dimensions

6.07 x 2.92 x 0.29 inches

154.2 x 74.1 x 7.25 mm

Weight

5.40 oz (153 g)

To see the phones in real size or compare them with other models, visit our Visual Phone Size Comparison page

Display

Having Apple's most advanced LCD display on board, it's no wonder the iPhone 8 Plus pretty much shines when it comes to overall color accuracy and presentation. The 5.5-inch Full HD display at the front is crisp enough and has excellent contrast reproduction for an LCD display. It's an HDR-enabled, wide-color display and supports True Tone, meaning it adapts to the environmental lighting.

On the other hand, the OnePlus 5 packs a similar 5.5-inch Full HD display on its own as well, but the big difference here is that it's an AMOLED one. It is also fully compliant with the DCI-P3 wide-color gamut. Thus, it can boast some excellent contrast and punchy colors, but overall, it falls short of the iPhone 8 Plus as far as overall color accuracy is concerned.

Display measurements and quality

	Maximum brightness Higher is better	Minimum brightness (nits) Lower is better	Contrast Higher is better	Color temperature (Kelvins)	Gamma	Delta E rgbcmy Lower is better	Delta E grayscale Lower is better
Apple iPhone 8 Plus	567 (Excellent)	2 (Excellent)	1:1478 (Excellent)	7105 (Good)	2.2	3.38 (Good)	3.39 (Good)
OnePlus 5	435 (Good)	2 (Excellent)	unmeasurable (Excellent)	8014 (Poor)	2.13	6.63 (Average)	6.29 (Average)

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The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set (area) of colors that a display can reproduce, with the sRGB colorspace (the highlighted triangle) serving as reference. The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x: CIE31' and 'y: CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.

These measurements are made using Portrait Displays' CalMAN calibration software.

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Interface and functionality

With the iPhone 8 Plus rocking the latest version of iOS and the OnePlus 5 rocking a rather stock build of Android 7.1 Nougat, the user experience is as good as it gets. With the core difference between iOS and Android ecosystems aside, each phone has its own set of particular software skills that make it a viable alternative depending on your own needs.

iOS is definitely better-looking than the somewhat bland and utilitarian interface of the OnePlus 5. Still, the latter is more open to user customization and could easily transform into a beautiful swan if you try hard enough.