The OnePlus 9 Pro is OnePlus' flagship phone for 2021. The company aims to take on the likes of the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Galaxy S21 Ultra with it. So, what exactly makes the OnePlus 9 Pro special? What are the top features that make it stand out from the crowd? Read on to find out.

1. Speedy Performance

With a Snapdragon 888 chipset and either 8 or 12GB of RAM, it's not surprising that the OnePlus 9 Pro offers excellent performance. OnePlus has also taken its time to optimize OxygenOS to ensure there are no lags and stutters. The skin is lightweight, with almost no bloatware and unnecessary features to bog it down.

The addition of the 120Hz AMOLED display further helps as it allows one to enjoy smooth UI interactions and animations. OnePlus has also smartly sped up the system animations, which further help make the phone feel fast.

OnePlus 9 Pro running OxygenOS

Since even the base model of the OnePlus 9 Pro ships with 8GB of RAM, you can open as many apps as you want and multitask between them without any issues.

If you are a gamer, the OnePlus 9 Pro also features Hyper Touch, which can boost the touch sampling rate to 360Hz. If you play competitive games online, you will find this feature quite useful as it will give you a slight edge over other players. This feature allows the phone to register your touches a wee bit faster, giving one a big advantage in online action games.

This helps to boost the gaming performance on your phone.

2. Fast and Intelligent Charging

The OnePlus 9 Pro is the fastest charging phone available in the United States, both wired and wirelessly. It features Warp Charge 65T, which means it supports 65W wired fast charging speeds.

With the bundled 65W charger, the OnePlus 9 Pro will charge to 50% percent in just 15 minutes, and a full charge takes less than 30 minutes. The good thing is that you can use the bundled Warp Charger to charge other USB-PD devices at speeds of up to 45W.

This means you can use the charger to fast charge your iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air, and even slow charge your 13-inch MacBook Pro.

As if that's not enough, the phone also features Warp Charge 50. This means it can charge wirelessly at speeds of 50W. To enjoy such fast wireless charging speeds, you will need to use the OnePlus Warp Charge 50 wireless charger. The speeds are good enough to charge the OnePlus 9 Pro wirelessly from zero to 70 percent in just 30 minutes.

With any other Qi-enabled wireless charger, the charging speed will drop to just 15W.

The OnePlus 9 Pro also features reverse wireless charging so that you can charge your other Qi-enabled accessories like Bluetooth earbuds using it.

Related: OnePlus 9 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: Which Should You Choose?

3. Record 4K Videos in 120fps

OnePlus 9 Pro

The OnePlus 9 Pro has a competent camera setup that can record videos in 8K resolution. That's not it, though, as the phone can also record videos in 4K 120fps, albeit only for 5 minutes at a stretch.

This means that you can slow down the video in post-processing to playback in slow motion. There are only a handful of smartphones in the market right now that can record slow-motion videos at 4K resolution.

The only gripe here is that to play the 4K 120fps videos in slow-motion, you will have to post-process them first. The phone does have a regular slow-motion mode, which you can use to capture slow-mo videos in Full HD resolution at 480fps. Do note that audio is not recorded in slow-motion videos on the OnePlus 9 Pro.

This is why it actually makes more sense to record 4K 120fps videos and then slow it down later using a video editor as they do not have any such limitations.

4. An Ultra-Wide Camera Without Distortion

Almost all major smartphones nowadays come with an ultra-wide camera. The problem with photos taken from many of these is that there's barrel distortion on the edges, where the angle of the lens causes straight lines to curve outwards from the center.

Most companies try to solve this problem using edge distortion in post-processing, but this technique has its own limitations.

OnePlus solves this problem for good by using a freeform lens on the 50MP ultra-wide camera. The sensor not only captures excellent photos thanks to its large size, but the freeform lens also ensures there's no barrel distortion on the edges.

The large ultra-wide sensor also ensures the OnePlus 9 Pro can capture excellent photos in challenging low-light situations. The ultra-wide camera on almost all other smartphones tends to struggle in such situations.

OnePlus is the only company to have used this solution for the ultra-wide camera. No wonder then that the OnePlus 9 Pro's ultra-wide camera is currently widely regarded as the best in smartphones.

Related: Is It Worth Upgrading to the OnePlus 9?

5. Super Macro Photos

OnePlus 9 Pro

The 50MP ultra-wide camera on the OnePlus 9 Pro also acts as a super macro shooter. This means you can use it to get some amazing close-up macro shots. Admittedly, most people might not find this feature useful, but this super macro camera will let you capture the world with an entirely different perspective if you are a photographer.

The OnePlus 9 Pro will automatically switch to the super macro mode when you get close to a subject, though you do have the option of enabling this mode manually as well.

While many mid-range phones come with a macro camera, their image quality is nothing to write about. However, the 50MP sensor on the OnePlus 9 Pro can capture macro photos with plenty of details due to its sheer sensor size. The focusing distance of the sensor is not as good as dedicated macro cameras found on some Android phones, though.

Check out some super macro camera shots from the OnePlus 9 Pro below.

The OnePlus 9 Pro Packs Plenty of Punch

There's a lot to like about the OnePlus 9 Pro, and it has several features that you won't find on many other premium Android flagships and even the iPhone 12 series. Make sure to read our OnePlus 9 Pro review to know the complete pros and cons of the device.

The OnePlus 9 Pro packs plenty of enticing new features, making it worth a buy over the iPhone 12 Pro series and the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.

The blazing-fast charging speeds---both wired and wireless, the impressive ultra-wide camera that can also act as a super macro shooter, and the excellent performance means you cannot go wrong with the OnePlus 9 Pro.