I’m still using a OnePlus 8 Pro and see no reason to upgrade

Believe it or not, I’m still rocking a OnePlus 8 Pro and don’t plan on upgrading any time soon. As long as it continues to work, I don’t see much of a reason to leave it behind. I originally picked it up to play Fortnite at 90 frames per second and get a free emote, but those days are long gone as the game continues to receive updates that push its performance past what my device can offer. But, I still don’t see a reason to leave the phone behind.

My battery life is still solid, the device still feels speedy, and I still get access to cutting-edge features like Google Gemini. Are there things other phones do better? Sure. However, there’s not much that interests me at the moment that my OnePlus Pro 8 can’t do.

How long that will last remains to be seen, and I know my days ahead are numbered as all good things must come to an end. As of right now, times are good. If I can keep on holding off an upgrade, it’s a win in my book.

So far, so good

The OnePlus isn’t letting me down

I have to be upfront and say I don’t use my phone often for social media. When it comes to browsing through Reddit or Twitter, I use my Galaxy Tab S6 tablet, another device that’s getting older and older by the day. Because of this, my OnePlus 8 Pro doesn’t have as much wear and tear on it as somebody who uses their phone all the time does.

Put differently, I charge my phone every other day, so that’s an indication of how little I use it. It still does all the daily tasks I need it to do, such as making phone calls and texting, and I don’t ask much more of it. The 120hz display still moves as smoothly as ever, and when I game on it, I can still get a lengthy play session out of the phone before having to charge it again.

While it’s not the gaming powerhouse it was four years ago at launch, it can still play anything I throw at it. This includes a whole playthrough of Dragon Quest 4, and I also dabbled with the Final Fantasy 3 Pixel Remaster, although I haven’t finished that one. Although it’s old, the Snapdragon 865 chip powering the phone can still handle all the light gaming I do. Barring some unforeseen issues, I can see myself holding onto the phone for at least another year. When the time comes, however, I’m not sure another OnePlus is in the cards.

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OnePlus changed its strategy

There might not be a place for my trusty phone moving forward

OnePlus

The OnePlus 10 Pro was the last of its kind, and since that point, the Pro moniker has been dropped completely. In its place is a base model OnePlus 11 or OnePlus 12, and then a budget option with the 11R and 12R. The flagship Pro model is gone completely, and that means I have to settle for the base model or look somewhere else to find a high-end option. Make no mistake, the OnePlus 12 is still a solid phone, and it’s something that would suit my needs nicely, but OnePlus doesn’t seem to be going after that high-end smartphone space like we see Apple continuing to do with its own Pro line.

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OnePlus 12

$650 $800 Save $150

The current flagship smartphone from OnePlus, with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, a triple camera array, and a 5,400 mAH battery pack.

Brand

OnePlus

SoC

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

Display

6.82-inch ProXDR LTPO, 3168 × 1440 (510ppi), 120Hz adaptive refresh

Luckily, there are still plenty of picks available with smartphones, whether it’s a Pixel, Galaxy, iPhone, or something else entirely. There’s no shortage of options out there, although I’d strongly consider sticking with an Android again, since my games are purchased through Google Play and I don’t want to have to buy anything twice.

If I did make the leap over to Apple, it’d more likely come in the form of an iPad to replace my aging Galaxy tablet. With so many options to pick from, it’ll come down to not only performance but what price everything is. Considering how much I love the Apple TV 4K, the iPhone can’t be ruled out completely, since Apple products have more features the deeper you are into the ecosystem. While I can’t picture myself ever using my iPhone to FaceTime from my Apple TV 4K, it’d still be nice to have the option.

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I’m going to keep going until the wheels come off

Going out in style

OnePlus

In the early 2010s, phones were advancing at an alarming rate, but it seems like we’ve slowed down a bit and now the new iterations don’t have a lot of separation from their predecessors. This is by far the longest I’ve held onto a phone, and a big part of why is that it still runs perfectly fine for my needs.

With Apple pushing the boundaries with Apple Intelligence — a service that still has a long way to go — it’s nice to sit back and watch how things shake out, since I’m not in dire need of an upgrade. I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m testing out a new feature for it to fall flat and be canceled. Even worse, I wouldn’t want to be an early adopter of something only to have it go extinct like the Google Pixel tablet. Interestingly enough, OnePlus looks to be picking up the slack there.

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The OnePlus phones nowadays are promised at least five years of security updates, and it appears as though the OnePlus 8 Pro has already received its last oneas of April 2024. This means the clock is ticking a lot faster than it was when it still received updates, and Android 15 is no longer anything I can hold out hope for. However, I’m still going to be patient. It always feels like the next announcement is right around the corner, and nothing has negatively impacted my usage yet.

An underrated thing about not looking for a phone upgrade in the immediate future is the ability to completely tune out from company events. There’s no feeling of missing out if I’m not looking to spend money on an upgrade, so there’s nothing that can really sway me. Of course, there hasn’t been a lot in the past four years that had me dying for an upgrade, but with updates no longer coming to my phone, the time is drawing much closer.