OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro: All the major differences

A OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro face-off was bound to happen, since OnePlus went back to the drawing board for this year’s handset. Having dropped the “Pro” moniker, the OnePlus 11 remains a flagship in almost every respect. And in most ways, it’s quite the upgrade over 2022’s OnePlus 10 Pro.

The price is also vastly different, with the OnePlus 11 starting at a much lower cost than the OnePlus 10 Pro did for its debut. Coupled with the typical annual upgrades, better cameras, and stronger battery life, the OnePlus 11 makes a big splash in 2023. But the OnePlus 10 Pro remains available, and at a lower price than before.

This OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro comparison will look at every detail to directly compare the two smartphones to help you decide if the newest handset is worth it or if you should turn to the older model.

OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro: Specs

OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro: Price and availability

The OnePlus 11 costs $699, making it one of the best Android values. For that price, you get 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. For an extra $100, you can double both of those to 16GB and 256GB, respectively.

The OnePlus 10 Pro kicked off at $899 a year ago, but OnePlus now sells it for $799. It, too, starts with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, but offers a 12GB option and either 256GB or 512GB as upgrades.

Based on current prices, the OnePlus 10 Pro scores the advantage, but the OnePlus 11 represents the better value.

Winner: OnePlus 11

OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro: Design

As for design, the OnePlus 11 looks similar enough to the OnePlus 10 Pro to feel familiar, but the camera module looks entirely different on the new phone thanks to the new round camera module design. The jury is still out on which one is better, the circle or the 10 Pro’s rectangular stove top design. Otherwise, the backs of each handset look practically identical minus the colorways. It’s the same story with the front.

Where the OnePlus 10 Pro holds an advantage over its successor is with its IP rating. The T-Mobile variant of the OnePlus 10 Pro had an official IP68 rating, meaning it could survive up to 1.5 meters underwater for 30 minutes. (The unlocked version of the OnePlus 10 doesn’t list an official IP rating.) The OnePlus 11 sports an IP64 rating, meaning it can survive splashes, but you should definitely avoid submerging it.

Both models feature Gorilla Glass Victus over the screen for added durability. That said, the OnePlus 10 Pro wins with its higher IP rating (at least with the T-Mobile version).

Winner: OnePlus 10 Pro

OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro: Display

Both the OnePlus 11 and OnePlus 10 Pro sport 6.7-inch AMOLED displays with resolutions of 3216 x 1440, each with a 1-120Hz refresh rate. In our testing, the phones are nearly indistinguishable with statistically insignificant differences in color reproduction and accuracy.

For example, in the default Vivid mode, the OnePlus 11 managed 171% of the sRGB spectrum, while the OnePlus 10 Pro reproduced 174%. As for their Delta-E color accuracy (where 0 is perfect), the 11 sat at a 0.31 and the 10 Pro at 0.32.

In fact, I think the OnePlus 11 shares the same panel as the OnePlus 10 Pro — or at least they’re of similar enough quality to make this particular comparison a push. Watching movies such as Blade Runner 2049 or playing games like Genshin Impact look great on either handset such that, from the front, it’s difficult to tell one phone apart from the other.

Winner: Draw

OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro: Cameras

The two phones diverge considerably when it comes to cameras. With a 50MP main sensor, the OnePlus 11 takes the best pictures we’ve seen from a OnePlus phone. That main camera is joined by 48MP ultrawide and 32MP telephoto lenses; the telephoto lens supports a 2x optical zoom.

In contrast, the OnePlus 10 Pro sports a 48MP main camera with a 50MP ultrawide and 8MP 3.3x telephoto lenses. Around front, the OnePlus 11 has a 16MP selfie cam while the 10 Pro uses a 32MP sensor.

To start this photo comparison, here’s a shot of the pond behind my house. The OnePlus 11 has a richer image with more vibrant colors, which is especially impressive considering the harsh sunlight just off to the left. The OnePlus 10 Pro’s shot is much paler and less lifelike. It’s dull in comparison to the 11. Neither phone struggles with focus, though. The sign in the foreground is nice and sharp. But I give the win to the OnePlus 11.

Inside, the OnePlus 11 has a much warmer tone in its image, or perhaps the OnePlus 10 Pro is too cool. I’m going with the latter because the scene itself was, to my eye, a rather warm one with daylight lightly drifting in from the left. 

Overall, while both phones keep the book spines and plush dolls in sharp focus with strong dynamic range, I think the OnePlus 11 has the better and more accurate picture.

Stepping back out to the pond once again for the ultrawide test, I see a similar pattern to what we saw with the first outdoor comparison. The OnePlus 11 offers richer colors and a sharper focus to my eye, whereas the OnePlus 10 Pro is softer with more muted hues. The OnePlus 11 also has a strong sense of depth, too, making for a more detailed image. It wins this one.

While the two zoom levels are rather different — 2x for the OnePlus 11 versus 3.3x for the 10 Pro — I decided to test both phones on this spray painted trash can. The difference to me stands out immediately.

The OnePlus 11 has a much, much brighter image overall with sharper focus on the trash can, better colors, and stronger exposure control. Despite not zooming as far as the OnePlus 10 Pro, the OnePlus 11 has the better telephoto performance.

The night images tell a different story. I tried multiple attempts, and these are the best of the bunch. The OnePlus 11 notably struggles with stabilization, having consistently put out blurry images in this near pitch-black scene. The OnePlus 10 Pro’s result isn’t much better. Colors in the 11’s shot are pretty pale, while the 10 Pro makes them a bit too warm. I have to give the edge to the OnePlus 10 Pro, though.

Wrapping up with selfies, I prefer the OnePlus 10 Pro’s image. I look sharper with less face smoothing. The green door behind me looks great in both pictures, but the OnePlus 11 applies too many unnatural effects, something I noted in my original OnePlus 11 review. I’d rather post the OnePlus 10 Pro’s selfie.

Despite a couple of victories for the OnePlus 10 Pro there at the end, the OnePlus 11 is clearly the better camera phone. It has better color reproduction, dynamic range, and exposure control. It’s not quite as good as the best camera phones from Apple, Samsung or Google, but it’s certainly OnePlus’ best attempt yet.

Winner: OnePlus 11

OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro: Performance

It should come as no surprise that the OnePlus 11 beats the OnePlus 10 Pro in essentially every performance benchmark. The newer phone features the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 system-on-chip, which boasts several notable improvements over its predecessor, especially when it comes to graphics. 

To start with Geekbench 5, which measures CPU and general system performance, the OnePlus 11 scored 1,166 in single-core and 4,962 in multicore. That’s a significant jump over the OnePlus 10 Pro’s 995 / 3,482 result.

The large generational leap continues in 3DMark’s Wild Life Unlimited graphics benchmark, with the OnePlus 11 scoring 84 frames per second compared to the OnePlus 10 Pro’s 61 fps result.

However, where the two phones remain relatively equal is the Adobe Premiere Rush video transcode test. The OnePlus 11 appears to be an outlier compared to other Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phones we’ve tested, taking 1 minute and 11 seconds to transcode our 4K video — by way of comparison the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered Galaxy S23 Ultra only needed 39 seconds. The OnePlus 10 Pro performed the test faster at 1 minute and 2 seconds. This seems to be an issue with OnePlus, rather than with the new Qualcomm silicon. 

As you might expect, the OnePlus 11 can max out Genshin Impact with a stable frame rate, providing a much better gaming experience than the OnePlus 10 Pro. It goes without saying that the newer flagship wins this category.

Winner: OnePlus 11

OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro: Battery life and charging

Both the OnePlus 11 and OnePlus 10 Pro have 5,000 mAh batteries, but thanks to the more efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the newer model enjoys substantially better battery life in our testing. In fact, the OnePlus 11 has some of the best battery life of any Android flagship.

For our battery life test, we task a phone to endlessly reload web pages over a cellular connection until it dies. In this benchmark, the OnePlus 11 managed 13 hours and 10 minutes. Compare that to the OnePlus 10 Pro’s 11 hours and 52 minutes. That’s almost an hour and a half difference, though both OnePlus devices are included in our best phone battery life list.

With charging, the OnePlus 11 gets 80W in the U.S. and OnePlus 10 Pro has 65W. The OnePlus 11 regained 97% of its battery capacity in 30 minutes. The 10 Pro wasn’t far behind at 93%.

The OnePlus 11 easily wins with stronger battery life, which we were very glad to see.

Winner: OnePlus 11

OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro: Software

One key piece of good news here is that the OnePlus 11 and OnePlus 10 Pro are essentially identical in terms of software. Both phones run OxygenOS 13, which is based on Android 13. Not everyone is a fan of the software since it is essentially Oppo’s ColorOS with different colors. We’ve called it a bloated and over-engineered affair.

Where the OnePlus 11 comes out ahead of the OnePlus 10 Pro comes down to support. Not only will the newer phone get updates faster, but for longer as well. OnePlus has committed to four years of platform upgrades and five years of security patches, whereas the OnePlus 10 Pro gets three years and four years, respectively.

That means the OnePlus 11 will go for two years longer than its predecessor. It’s impressive to see OnePlus catch up to Samsung in this regard and beat Google — though timeliness of updates will remain a concern.

Winner: OnePlus 11

OnePlus 11 vs. OnePlus 10 Pro: Overall winner

As you can see, the OnePlus 11 is the clear winner. At a killer starting price, it offers the best bang for your buck out of any Android handset right now. It features the better cameras, stronger performance, and better battery life.

That said, the OnePlus 10 Pro is still a wonderful phone, as we’ve laid out here. It has good cameras, strong battery life, and solid performance — and it’s a bit more durable. The OnePlus 11 just does all that better for $699.