Despite the difficulties faced after the ban from the U.S. administration, Huawei is here once again with a new affordable flagship: the Nova 5 Pro. A great alternative if you want similar performances to the Huawei P30 Pro but you do not want to spend a shitload of money. It is very affordable, but is it really the best among the actual cheap flagships? In order to know it, the best way is comparing it with the hottest flagship of the moment available at modest price tags. And we firmly believe that, from the other Chinese brands, there is nothing more suitable than the new Redmi K20 Pro by Xiaomi’s sub-brand and the vanilla OnePlus 7.
Huawei Nova 5 Pro vs Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro vs OnePlus 7
| Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro | Huawei Nova 5 Pro | OnePlus 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT | 156.7 x 74.3 x 8.8 mm, 191 g | 157.4 x 74.8 x 7.3 mm, 171 g | 157.7 x 74.8 x 8.2 mm, 182 g |
| DISPLAY | 6.39 inches, 1080 x 2340p (Full HD+), Super AMOLED | 6.39 inches, 1080 x 2340p (Full HD+), OLED | 6.41 inches, 1080 x 2340p (Full HD+), Optic AMOLED |
| PROCESSOR | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, octa-core 2.84 GHz | Huawei Hisilicon Kirin 980, octa-core 2.6 GHz | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, octa-core 2.84 GHz |
| MEMORY | 6 GB RAM, 64 GB – 6 GB RAM, 128 GB – 6 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB | 8 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB – nano memory card slot | 6 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB |
| SOFTWARE | Android 9 Pie, MIUI | Android 9 Pie, EMUI | Android 9 Pie, Oxygen OS |
| CONNECTIVITY | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS |
| CAMERA | Triple 48 + 13 + 8 MP, f/1.8, f/2.4 and f/2.4 | Quad 48 16 + 2 + 2 MP, f/1.8, f/2.2, f/2.4 and f/2.4 32 MP f/2.0 front camera |
Dual 48 + 5 MP, f/1.7 and f/2.4 16 MP f/2.0 front camera |
| BATTERY | 4000 mAh, fast charging 27W with Quick Charge 4.0 | 3500 mAh, fast charging 40W | 3700 mAh, fast charging 20W |
| ADDITIONAL FEATURES | Dual SIM slot | Hybrid Dual SIM slot | Dual SIM slot |
Design
Most of the people in search of an original and stunning design would probably prefer the Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro just like I do. Just like the most stylish flagships, it is equipped with a motorized pop-up camera which minimizes the bezels around the display. It even has a very original liquid finish on the back cover. Huawei Nova 5 Pro and OnePlus 7 are classic devices with a waterdrop notch and moderately narrow bezels, we already saw this form factor a lot of times and there is nothing special to mention. Just keep in mind that the OnePlus 7 has the Gorilla Glass 6 protection, so it should have more resistant front and back glasses.
Display
Despite they are not among the most expensive flagships, Huawei Nova 5 Pro, OnePlus 7 and Redmi K20 Pro still come with pretty nice displays. The Redmi K20 Pro provides an outstanding color reproduction thanks to the HDR technology, but OnePlus 7 and Huawei Nova 5 Pro are still awesome with their high DCI-P3 coverage (on the paper, Huawei Nova 5 Pro seems better than OnePlus 7, but the latter comes with stereo speakers that could be more useful with multimedia). The display size is more or less the same and they all come with a fast in-display fingerprint reader.
Hardware/Software
Given that they are equipped with a more powerful Snapdragon 855 chipset, OnePlus 7 and Redmi K20 Pro are faster than Huawei Nova 5 Pro. But unlike the Nova 5 Pro, they do not feature expandable storage. Between OnePlus 7 and Redmi K20 Pro, the former takes the first place thanks to its Oxygen OS custom user interface which is close to stock Android and optimized better in terms of performance.
Camera
This is a hard fight as the specs of these devices on the paper are not extremely different, and we still had no chance to test the Huawei Nova 5 Pro as it just debuted. But on the paper, OnePlus 7 and Redmi K20 Pro look more exciting. OnePlus 7 is the only with optical stabilization and it even has a brighter focal aperture, it shoots amazing photos with low light. But it lacks both telephoto and ultrawide sensor, which are present on the Redmi K20 Pro (no OIS, though). Last but not least, Redmi K20 Pro can record 960 fps super slow motion videos in 1080p.
Battery
Redmi K20 Pro wins the battery life comparison simply because Xiaomi equipped it with a bigger, satisfying 4000 mAh battery. And this is very important for a flagship phone as flagships consume more energy due to their higher performances and more advanced usage patterns. Right after, in terms of battery capacity, there is the OnePlus 7 with 3700 mAh. Huawei Nova 5 Pro has the smallest battery and it will probably last less than its rivals on a single charge, but it has the fastest charging technology: with a power of 40W, it can reach 85% of battery charge in just 30 minutes.
Price
Huawei Nova 5 Pro debuted in China with a starting price of €390/$445, OnePlus 7 starts from about $436/€382 and Redmi K20 Pro costs €350/$400. Overall, I would personally go for the Redmi K20 Pro because of its more interesting form factor, its bigger battery, and its versatile cameras.
Huawei Nova 5 Pro vs Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro vs OnePlus 7: PRO and CONS
Huawei Nova 5 Pro
PROS
- Affordable price
- Very fast charging
- Great cameras
- Expansion slot
CONS
- Limited availability
Redmi K20 Pro
PROS
- Affordable
- Very original design
- Bigger battery
- Great cameras
CONS
- No micro SD
OnePlus 7 Pro
PROS
- Nice display
- Higher performance
- OIS
- Stereo speakers
CONS
- No MicroSD
- Higher price
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