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Why the OnePlus 7 Pro won’t win over Galaxy S10 and iPhone XS fans

The newly launched OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 won’t lure smartphone fans away from Apple, Samsung and Huawei, according to industry experts.

Experts from Kantar and uSwitch told Trusted Reviews that, while the phones get a lot right, they won’t radically change the current state of the top end smartphone market.

Related: Best smartphone

Global director for Kantar, Dominic Sunnebo, said that the dual device strategy is clever, but the top end phone market will still be firmly controlled by the company’s more established rivals.

“As Apple and Samsung edge smartphone prices ever higher, it is a sound decision for OnePlus to keep the OnePlus 7 price under £500 as this creates a noteworthy gap of around £250 from Apple and Samsung’s more affordable flagships – iPhone XR and Galaxy S10e,” he said.

“Whilst on paper the OnePlus 7 and Pro are up there from a hardware perspective with the best that Apple, Samsung and Huawei can offer, the same can be said for previous iterations – there is nothing in the latest release to suggest the audience for the OnePlus 7 will spread further than it has done to date.”

The OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro were unveiled on Tuesday (May 14). The regular OnePlus 7 is a modest refresh of the company’s previous flagship, the OnePlus 6T.

The OnePlus 7 Pro is the company’s current flagship and is designed to challenge the Galaxy S10 and fabled iPhone 11, which is expected to appear later this year.

You can get a more thorough breakdown of the two handsets’ features in our hands-on OnePlus 7 review, which details our opening impressions of the phone, and in-depth OnePlus 7 Pro review, which includes our final verdict.

Sunnebo added that his forecast is heavily based on OnePlus past struggles to win over UK shoppers.

“OnePlus is a company which at certain times of the year manages to make a lot of noise, particularly amongst the tech press, however this historically hasn’t translated into meaningful sales – Kantar data shows that across the big five markets in Europe, OnePlus has not once risen above 1% sales share in the last five quarters,” he said.

“Despite inking distribution deals with O2, EE, Vodafone, Carphone Warehouse in the UK, consumers are just not biting.“

Related: Best mid-range smartphone

uSwitch mobiles experted Ru Bhikha mirrored Sunnebo’s argument, suggesting Google’s newly launched Pixel 3a handset could eat into OnePlus traditional fanbase.

“OnePlus has yet to make any real impression on the UK market, and it remains to be seen whether the 7 series will allow it to make the desired leap,” he said.

“The problem OnePlus might have is that Google has just undercut the whole market with its impressive Pixel 3a range and has the heavyweight clout to make inroads in a way OnePlus will struggle to match. The 7 series has much to admire but it might struggle to appeal to an audience outside OnePlus’s existing acolytes.”

The Pixel 3a is Google’s latest mid-range smartphone. It aims to offer buyers the Pixel 3’s stellar camera tech at a lower RRP.

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