OnePlus 10 Pro: There’s something bittersweet about reviewing the OnePlus 10 Pro in 2025. This phone represents both the peak of OnePlus’s ambitions and perhaps the last hurrah of their original “flagship killer” philosophy. Released in early 2022, it arrived during a turbulent period for the company, carrying the weight of massive expectations while navigating significant internal changes.
Looking back now, the 10 Pro feels like a fascinating case study in smartphone development – a device that got so many things right while stumbling in some surprisingly fundamental areas. It’s a phone that deserves recognition for its genuine innovations, even if it never quite achieved the universal acclaim OnePlus was hoping for.
Design Evolution: Maturity Meets Bold Choices
The OnePlus 10 Pro marked a clear departure from the company’s previous design language, embracing a more mature aesthetic that felt distinctly premium. The camera module’s integration with the frame created a unique visual signature that immediately identified this as something different from the typical rectangular camera bump epidemic plaguing modern smartphones.
Holding the device reveals careful attention to ergonomics that many reviewers initially overlooked. The curved edges and balanced weight distribution make extended use comfortable, while the matte finish on certain color variants provides excellent grip without attracting fingerprints. The Volcanic Black variant particularly impressed with its sophisticated appearance that managed to look professional without being boring.
The alert slider’s return felt like a small victory for longtime OnePlus enthusiasts who had watched the company gradually abandon its distinctive features. This physical toggle for notification management remained one of those perfectly executed details that demonstrated OnePlus’s understanding of user preferences.
Build Quality That Justified Premium Pricing
Construction quality reached new heights with the 10 Pro, featuring Gorilla Glass Victus protection and an IP68 rating that finally addressed long-standing durability concerns. The phone felt substantial without being unwieldy, striking that delicate balance between premium materials and practical usability.
The button placement and tactile feedback showed refinement that earlier OnePlus devices sometimes lacked. Everything from the power button’s travel distance to the volume rocker’s responsiveness felt deliberately engineered rather than hastily assembled.
Display Excellence: Visual Perfection Realized
The 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED display represented OnePlus’s finest screen technology to date, delivering colors that appeared natural yet vibrant across different content types. Peak brightness levels ensured excellent outdoor visibility, while the adaptive refresh rate technology intelligently balanced performance with battery conservation.
What impressed most about this display wasn’t just its technical specifications but how cohesively everything worked together. The 120Hz refresh rate felt smooth without being gimmicky, color accuracy satisfied both casual users and photography enthusiasts, and the overall viewing experience remained consistently excellent whether streaming videos or reading text.
The curved edges, while controversial among some users, added to the premium feel without creating excessive accidental touches. OnePlus’s software optimization handled palm rejection effectively, making the curved design feel intentional rather than problematic.
HDR Performance That Elevated Content
HDR10+ support transformed compatible content into genuinely immersive experiences. Streaming services looked spectacular on this display, with dark scenes maintaining detail while bright highlights avoided clipping. The phone’s ability to handle different HDR formats meant that content from various sources consistently looked its best.
Performance: Flagship Power Executed Flawlessly
The OnePlus 10 Pro’s performance capabilities centered around the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, a chip that brought both impressive capabilities and notable challenges. OnePlus’s implementation managed the processor’s thermal characteristics better than many competitors, though sustained gaming sessions still revealed the chip’s inherent limitations.
Day-to-day performance felt absolutely stellar. App launching happened instantly, multitasking remained smooth even with numerous applications open, and the overall system responsiveness exceeded expectations. The combination of fast storage, ample RAM, and optimized software created an experience that felt effortlessly quick.
Gaming performance proved excellent for most titles, though the most demanding games occasionally triggered thermal throttling during extended sessions. Still, for the vast majority of users, performance never felt like a limitation.
OxygenOS: Evolution and Controversy
The software experience sparked considerable debate among OnePlus enthusiasts. OxygenOS 12, based on Android 12, brought significant visual changes while maintaining much of the clean, fast experience that originally attracted users to the brand.
Some longtime fans felt disappointed by the increased ColorOS influence, while others appreciated the additional features and polish. The reality fell somewhere between these extremes – a capable, feature-rich experience that retained most of OnePlus’s original philosophy while adapting to modern Android expectations.
Camera System: Hasselblad Partnership Bearing Fruit
OnePlus 10 Pro: The Hasselblad collaboration delivered more substantial improvements than many initially expected. The main camera produced images with natural color grading and impressive dynamic range, while the ultra-wide lens maintained quality consistency across different shooting scenarios.
Portrait mode implementation showed real sophistication, with edge detection and background blur that rivaled dedicated cameras. The collaboration’s influence appeared most clearly in color science, where images displayed the more natural, film-like aesthetic that Hasselblad championed.
OnePlus 10 Pro: Final Assessment: A Flagship’s Complex Legacy
The OnePlus 10 Pro succeeded in most areas that matter while stumbling in ways that prevented universal acclaim. It represented OnePlus at its most ambitious, delivering genuine innovation alongside inevitable compromises. For users who prioritized display quality, build materials, and overall performance, it offered excellent value in the flagship segment.