OnePlus 5, arguably the most successful high-end phone in India, is set to face some competition from Meizu Pro 7 Plus, which is now likely to the first phone to come with the advanced 10-nm Helio X30 chipset in India.
Meizu has so far focused on the mid-range 10,000-rupee market in India, and has launched its Note series in the country.
Though not comparable to Xiaomi and Lenovo, the brand has in the last three years made a mark with its superior specifications and affordable price tags.
HIGH END MOVE
The Pro 7 Plus will be the first high-end model to be launched by the firm in the country.
The model, one of the few globally to sport the new MediaTek platform, is likely to hit the market sometime in October, according to an industry source.
The smartphone was first introduced in China in July, and was priced at around Rs 34,500 for the 64-GB version and at around Rs 39,000 for the 128-GB version.
Like OP5, this one also comes with 6 GB of DDR4 RAM clocked at 1866 MHz, but the Meizu Pro 7 Plus has an edge here as it has quad-channel RAM compared to OnePlus 5’s dual-channel RAM.
This means that the speed of access could be twice as fast for the Meizu model compared to its competitor, though actual performance will depend on software and design.
The OP5 scores about 175,000 in Antutu, including about 40,000 in the CPU department. There are not enough samples from Pro 7 Plus to compare, but indications suggest that the X30 CPU performance is similar, but the GPU lags behind that of the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835.
The India price for the 64 GB variant is likely to be around Rs 37,500, while the 128-GB model is likely to set you back by around Rs 42,500. This compares to Rs 33,000 for the OnePlus 5 6GB and Rs 38,000 for the 8GB version.
DISPLAY
Another key area of difference between the two is in display.
Both models come with AMOLED screens manufactured by Samsung, which helps keep power consumption under control.
However, the Pro 7 clearly scores on this front compared to the OnePlus on this front as it comes with a more expensive Quad-HD display compared to the Full HD screen on OP5.
The 5.7-inch Quad-HD display has 4 million dots or pixels on it, twice as many as the rival’s 5.5-inch full-HD display.
This will make a noticeable difference for those who hold their phones close their eyes, and when using applications such as Virtual Reality.
The higher resolution screen, more or less, explains the higher price tag on the Meizu model as Quad-HD screens are much more difficult to make and costs significantly more than FHD panels. The price difference could be as high as Rs 3,000 per unit.
Besides this, the Pro 7 Plus comes with a second, 2-inch AMOLED display at the back for showing notifications, phone numbers and so on.
CAMERA
Another difference is in camera. The OP5 has a 16 MP rear unit with a Sony IMX398 sensor, compared to the 12 MP sensor on the Meizu model and its IMX386 sensor.
However, the key thing to note here is not the megapixel count, but the size of the sensor.
While the OnePlus 5 has 33% more number of pixels on its sensor, the difference in quality will not be as high. That is because the model has a sensor that is only 8% bigger than the one on Pro 7 Plus.
Because the individual pixels on the Meizu model are bigger, which allows it to largely compensate for the lower revolution, especially in indoor conditions.
For video, there’s no difference as both come with 30 fps 4K resolution.
Both phones have dual-camera setups at the back, though with significant differences. The OP5, for example, has an extra 20 MP telephoto camera with Exmor 350, while its arival has a 12 MP monochrome camera with IMX386 and a six-element lens.
The front camera is identical and has 16 MP resolution, though the Pro 7 Plus does come with a 5 element lens. It is generally assumed that the higher the number of elements, the better the picture quality.
In terms of battery life, both are likely to rank similar. Even though the Pro 7 Plus has a 3.5 Ah battery compared to 3.3 Ah on OP5, it also has two screens, including a bigger one.
Both support USB Type-C.