OnePlus 5 VS Honor 9 VS Galaxy S8: “flagship killers” causing a carnage?

In the smartphone market, we often see summer as a boring period. It must be said that this is not necessarily conducive to much excitement. But that doesn’t mean that a few players haven’t worked hard to promote it.

We have understood this very well lately. Just a few days ago, we officially discovered Honor 9, the Chinese brand’s new forerunner for teenagers.

Then, yesterday, another highly anticipated Chinese manufacturer spoiled us: the 1+ has finally officially presented the OnePlus 5. Both phones and both brands may claim to be “flagship killers,” but these two models have enough to scare the current #1 Galaxy. Q8? Answer in our comparison.

Comparative technical sheets of OnePlus 5, Honor 9 and Galaxy S8

As for raw power, the competition is quite honestly pocketable, and these 3 devices offer some of the best performances on the market. The Galaxy S8 and Exynos 8895 outperform the Snapdragon 835 built into the US version, but the much lighter coating of the OnePlus 5 could give it an edge.

That, and of course its 6 and 8 GB of RAM, which guarantees a constantly smooth and fast-to-use phone. But what about the Honor 9 powered by Kirin 960, which the manufacturer produces in-house?

The latter, far from surprising with its power, even allowed it to beat the Galaxy S8 in a speed test. If the theoretical performance is not necessarily the best, the optimization offered by Honor has always managed to impress on Android.

But let’s not hide it: the OnePlus 5 currently wins in raw power. It’s only natural that it’s the first among its Snapdragon 835 to integrate an extremely light skin, 6 or 8GB of RAM, and an Adreno 540 GPU. But all this is played over a cable, and three phones a day will never be a problem in the slightest.

Design: from limitless to efficiency

There’s no denying it: Among these 3 devices, there’s only one that is sure to catch everyone’s attention: the Galaxy S8 and the Infinity Display. It’s the only one among these phones to integrate the bezel-less language that was in vogue at the beginning of 2017, as a bonus for continuing to integrate Edge screens: its looks are unlike any other.

But this move to bezel-less has forced it to make a binding sacrifice: Placing the fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone, next to the photo sensor, is more than annoying on a daily basis.

Honor opted for the security card this year, continuing to refine the design of last year’s Honor 8 with its reflective back. An efficient design that’s good to review except for one notable change: the fingerprint scanner has been moved to the front. Absolutely nothing transcendent.

The OnePlus 5 was heavily inspired by the iPhone 7 Plus this year, making it a not necessarily pretty pick for anyone. The phone is great and extremely well built and is the only phone with a metal body and ceramic fingerprint scanner… but many Android fans want to differentiate themselves from Apple and this is not for them.

Photo: low light performance in focus

Only two of these 3 devices have dual photo sensors. This year, Samsung didn’t try to revolutionize the already perfect formula of the Galaxy S7 with the S8, so it has further optimized the software part and inherited more or less the same 12-megapixel sensor certified Dual Pixel.

The Galaxy S7 has been the best sensor on the market for months in a row in 2016, and that decision is hard to criticize. Frankly, if we expect the Galaxy Note 8 to explore dual-sensor vision, 2 competitors have already adopted it.

Starting with the Honor 9, which uses the same formula as last year and uses the same 20-megapixel RGB + 12-megapixel monochrome dual sensor as the Honor 8 Pro. It’s an efficient sensor and a fun photophone, thanks to the many shooting modes offered by the manufacturer, including bokeh.

However, it remains much less efficient than the OnePlus 5, which this year introduced the first dual photo sensors powered by DxO. Its main 16-megapixel sensor is combined with a 20-megapixel telephoto sensor that provides lossless x2 zoom and a much more effective bokeh mode.

With an aperture of f/1.7, the Galaxy S8 and OnePlus 5 are much more efficient in low light than the Honor 9 at this point. The competition between the two in terms of quality is in a pocket wipe, but the OnePlus 5’s x2 zoom and portrait mode give it a slight edge in functionality.

Value for money: tighter than it looks

Sold for a base price of €499 for the 6GB RAM / 64GB storage version, the OnePlus 5 seems like the best possible value for money, thanks to its great performance and many additional features like Bluetooth 5.0. The dual photo sensors are also impressive and have nothing to envy over its more expensive rivals, a big strength for a phone at this price.

However, the Galaxy S8 has the advantage of being a lot more “glamorous” thanks to its gorgeous Infinity Display, and small advantages such as IP68 certification that naturally give it a more “premium” side. If it came out at €809, it’s a long way off the OnePlus 5’s price, now easily available at around €600.

Adding an extra €100 for the Infinity Screen and its small bonuses may therefore be worth it. But honestly, it’s a luxury. In fact, the OnePlus 5 will fit you perfectly no matter what, and saving $100 is no small feat.

The phone most affected by this comparison is none other than the Honor 9. If the device itself is excellent, its €499 price will put it in direct competition with the OnePlus 5. A rivalry that doesn’t help because of its lack. poorer performance and a photo sensor that can’t keep up, despite being a very good phone after all.